More than 2,000 British nationals in the IOF were serving as of March 2025, according to newly declassified data obtained through a Freedom of Information request on Thursday. The figures raise renewed legal questions for UK authorities over potential accountability linked to the war on Gaza.

The data, secured by Declassified through a request issued to the IOF by lawyer Elad Man of the NGO Hatzlacha, details the number of soldiers holding dual or multiple nationalities.

It shows that 1,686 British-Israelis and a further 383 individuals holding British, Israeli, and other nationalities were IOF service members amid the annihilation of Gaza. In total, they were among more than 50,000 soldiers with Israeli and at least one additional nationality.

The largest dual-national cohorts in the IOF reportedly come from the US, Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany.

Prior to this disclosure, publicly available data only covered so-called “lone soldiers” from Britain, nationals without Israeli citizenship serving in the IOF, a number previously cited as low as 54.

FOI data reveals scale of British nationals in the IOF

The newly released figures significantly expand the known scale of Britons serving in the Israeli occupation forces' attacks during the Gaza genocide.

The UK Foreign Office declined to comment on the data but confirmed that it does not collect information on the number of Britons serving in the IOF.

The findings follow earlier reporting by Declassified contributor Hamza Yusuf, who documented Britons serving in some of "Israel’s" “craziest” combat units in Gaza, where Palestinian fighters were described as “rats” and “animals”.

Among those identified was Levi Simon, reportedly seen “rummaging through the underwear drawers of Palestinian women forced to flee their homes” in Gaza.

Another was master sergeant Sam Sank from London, who filmed himself fighting in Gaza between December 2023 and January 2024.

Sank previously told The Times that “based on the number of his friends in the IOF, which includes a Scot in his own small unit, believes there are hundreds, if not thousands, more Britons fighting in Israel.”

His estimate aligns closely with the figures obtained through Hatzlacha’s request to Israeli authorities.

Legal questions facing UK authorities

The scale of UK citizens fighting in Gaza raises questions regarding Britain’s obligations under international and domestic law.

Paul Heron, a lawyer with the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), told Declassified: “There must be no impunity where credible evidence links British nationals to grave breaches of international law.

“The UK has clear duties to prevent genocide and avoid assisting unlawful military action.

“Where dual nationals have served in units implicated in atrocities, the authorities must investigate promptly and, where the evidence meets the threshold, pursue arrest and prosecution like any other serious crime”.

The Metropolitan Police’s war crimes unit was handed a 240-page complaint against ten Britons serving in the IOF last year.

Submitted by the Public Interest Law Centre and the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the dossier accused the British suspects of “targeted killing of civilians and aid workers, including by sniper fire, and indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas”.

“British nationals are under a legal obligation not to collude with crimes committed in Palestine. No one is above the law”, said Michael Mansfield, one of the lawyers involved in the complaint.

Heron added: “In our report to the Metropolitan Police, we set out credible evidence that 10 British nationals served in the Israeli Defence Forces and were involved in war crimes and acts giving rise to genocide.”

The Metropolitan Police did not respond when asked last year whether those referred by PILC would be investigated for potential involvement in war crimes.

Lone soldiers from Britain

In addition to dual nationals, more than 50 “lone soldiers” from Britain, defined as IOF members without family in "Israel" to support them, served during the genocide.

A report published by the Knesset Research and Information Center in August 2024 detailed that 54 Britons were among roughly 3,000 lone soldiers serving at that time.

Thirty-three joined through the Tzabar programme, which supports young Jewish adults seeking to “make Aliyah” and enlist in the IOF.

“Lone soldiers” also include immigrants who arrive alone and foreign volunteers.

In previous years, the UK government offered support to British nationals serving as lone soldiers.

Chaim Schryer, originally from Manchester, served in Netzah Yehuda, a military unit that the US reportedly considered sanctioning in 2024 over alleged gross human rights violations.

In 2021, Schryer was invited aboard HMS Richmond alongside other British lone soldiers. Photographs showed him boarding the Royal Navy vessel in his Netzah Yehuda uniform, where he met Britain’s defence attaché in Israeli-occupied Palestine, Colonel Jim Priest.

Schryer is among at least three Britons identified by Declassified through open-source research and facial recognition analysis as having served with Netzah Yehuda in recent years.

International Court of Justice and legal obligations

In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) placed all UN member states on notice of the serious risk that genocide was being committed by "Israel" in Gaza.

Subsequently, a UN commission of inquiry stated: “The duty to prevent genocide was triggered due to the actual or constructive knowledge of the immediate plausibility that genocide was being or was about to be committed”.

In July 2024, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of "Israel’s" occupation of Palestine, advising that all UN member states, including the United Kingdom, must refrain from assisting in maintaining the occupation.

Legal experts suggest that a failure to investigate British dual nationals in the IOF could be interpreted as tacit support for "Israel’s" military campaign.

Potential breach of the Foreign Enlistment Act

Britain’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state could also carry domestic legal implications.

Under the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870, it is an offence for Britons “to fight for a foreign state at war with another state with which the UK is at peace”.

A spokesperson for the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said: “No one in the UK wants to live next door to a potential war criminal.

“And yet, British people who fought in the IOF are allowed to return to this country and live freely amongst us, despite fighting for an army that is committing genocide.

“It is utterly inexcusable that the UK government is failing to take action to hold citizens accountable for potential violations of international and domestic law”.

The newly disclosed figures suggest the issue of British nationals in the IOF are far more extensive than previously understood.

Source:Websites