Statement re: support provided to the International Criminal Court

Statement from Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command:

Ever since the appalling attacks in Israel, Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) here in London and across the UK has been responding in a variety of ways to support those in the UK who have been directly affected, while working to keep communities in London and across the UK safe amid a rise in hate crime and extremism.

CT officers have been gathering direct evidence and information relating to the terrorist attacks on 7 October. This has been in support of the UK coronial investigations into the death of British nationals who were sadly killed in those attacks. Specialist officers also continue to provide support to UK families affected by this.

Response to Protests

Following those attacks, we have seen a number of protests here in London and elsewhere linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict and there has been an increase in related public order offences, as well as a rise in hate crimes.

Officers from the Met have arrested well in excess of 400 people in relation to offences linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict including hate crimes and public order offences.

There have also been instances of apparent support for Hamas or other alleged terrorist activity that has been seen at some of the protests here in London.

Any support for terrorist groups or organisations will be thoroughly investigated and we have set up a dedicated taskforce here in the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command to identify terrorism offences linked to protests.

Since 7 October, we have launched around 30 CT-led investigations into suspected offending at protests in London - the majority of which relate to potential terrorism offences. From these, we have arrested eleven people, of which four have been charged and await trial.

We continue to appeal for the public’s help to identify the outstanding suspects, pictured in our appeals gallery.

Alongside this work, we have also seen a number of referrals come in to our War Crimes Team (WCT) relating to this conflict.

War Crimes

CTP has national responsibility in the UK for investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity and this is carried out by the War Crimes Team (WCT), which comprises a small number of specialist officers. Investigations and activity cover both matters relating to historical conflicts, as well as current and ongoing conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The WCT is directly funded and resourced through CTP nationally, and is hosted within the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command. As part of its work, the WCT has a duty and obligation to support UK communities and international bodies including the ICC. Our obligation to support to the ICC, in particular, comes from the UK Government being a signatory of the 1998 Rome Statute, which is also recognised by more than 100 other states worldwide.

In 2019, the ICC opened an investigation into alleged war crimes in Israel and Palestine. Following the 7 October attacks, and the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas since, we began to see higher volumes of people returning to the UK from the region.

In late November, posters signposting how people could contact CTP were displayed at certain airports to inform those who may have been witness to, or victim of, terrorism, war crimes or crimes against humanity of how they can get in touch.

The poster deliberately referred to those in Israel and Gaza in order to provide a reporting route for all parties.

It is important to note however, that contrary to some recent reports and commentary in the media and elsewhere, we have not opened or conducted our own UK-based War Crimes investigation into this matter.

Any information provided to CTP that could be linked to potential war crimes assessed by the WCT and where relevant and appropriate, will be passed to the ICC.

The work of the WCT has been a relatively small, but important part of the overall CTP response to events in Israel and Gaza.

It’s also important to note that the work of the WCT delivered on behalf of CTP nationally does not impact on the ability of the Met to tackle the crimes which matter most to Londoners, including violence and knife crime.

Anyone wishing to report a War Crime-related matter can do so via our website

Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit

The other core element of CTP’s work in response to the events in Israel and Gaza has been through our Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). The CTIRU, which is also based in the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, works around the clock to identify suspected terrorism offending online. It has received more than 2,700 referrals from the public relating to online content linked to the conflict in the Middle East since early October.

Around 630 cases have been identified as having a link to the UK and could potentially be in breach of terrorism or other UK legislation, or otherwise be of interest to policing. Around 150 cases have been passed on for further police investigation or action. Around 20 are being investigated by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, while the remaining cases have being passed to other regional counter terrorism units or local police forces across the country.

Again, anyone who sees terrorist or extremist content online can report this to us via: www.gov.uk/report-terrorism