Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the news release of 18 October 2023 from Human Rights Watch, entitled Israel/Palestine: Videos of Hamas-Led Attacks Verified, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of the recommendation that the attacks by Hamas-led gunmen on 7 October 2023 should be investigated as war crimes.

It is for competent courts to determine if the barbaric attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October constitute war crimes, after consideration of all the evidence available in the context of a credible judicial process. In the first instance, the Government would expect the Israeli domestic judicial system to investigate and, where appropriate, to try or extradite those accused of grave breaches of international law.