Hind Rajab Foundation files UK criminal complaint against Israeli soldier over Gaza war crimes

The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a criminal complaint with UK authorities against Israeli soldier Lidor Dafna over alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide committed in the Gaza Strip. The foundation said in a statement Sunday that Dafna, a reservist serving as a D9 armored bulldozer operator in the 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade, participated in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon from November 2023 onward.

The foundation said it has reason to believe he is currently in the UK. The complaint focuses on the destruction of Great Ocean Mills, an industrial flour-producing facility in the Morag Corridor between Khan Younis and Rafah, on May 25, 2025. According to the foundation, footage posted by Dafna on social media shows a bulldozer demolishing the facility's wheat silos. The foundation said Israeli forces subsequently occupied the building, converted it into a military base and reportedly used it to shoot Palestinians seeking food aid at a nearby Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site.

The foundation said the destruction occurred when Israel had sealed Gaza to food, fuel and medicine, with flour reportedly selling for as much as $70 per kilogram and half a million people facing starvation. The foundation also said that the 603rd Battalion carried out more than 60 controlled demolitions of buildings, including mosques and residential blocks, and contributed to widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and agricultural land during the establishment of the Morag Corridor.

The foundation said its investigation indicates that Dafna may be criminally responsible for extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity, intentionally targeting civilian objects, using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, extermination as a crime against humanity and genocide. The foundation called on British authorities to open an investigation, arrest and question Dafna, citing Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which requires states to search for individuals alleged to have committed grave breaches of the convention.

Dyab Abou Jahjah, the foundation's director general, said: “Lidor Dafna filmed himself destroying one of the last remaining food production facilities serving a starving population, then posted the footage on social media as a trophy.” “The United Kingdom now faces a simple test: will it arrest and prosecute a man, who remains an active soldier of an army carrying out such crimes, or once again permit a perpetrator of genocide to walk freely on its soil and return to Gaza to continue committing his crimes?” he added.

Despite a ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, the Israeli army has continued daily attacks in Gaza, killing at least 1,551 Palestinians and injuring 5,573 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and injured over 175,000 others in Gaza, while around 90% of the enclave’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed.