Police complaint filed against Elbit Systems UK over Gaza atrocities
Campaigners have filed a complaint to the London Metropolitan Police against the Israeli-owned Elbit Systems defence company over its involvement in the genocide in Gaza.
The Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), with the support of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), said it had sent a detailed complaint to the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command (SO15).
They said they were demanding a criminal investigation into four current and former British directors of Elbit Systems UK Ltd for possible complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza, "under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (ICCA) and related domestic offences of aiding and abetting".
Israel-based Elbit Systems Ltd has been a central supplier of weapons and technologies used in Gaza since the beginning of the war in October 2023, while PILC described Elbit Systems UK as a key part of the company's supply chain.
Middle East Eye has asked Elbit Systems for comment.
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PILC said it was entering the complaint on behalf of a Palestinian national living in the UK whose family remain in Gaza.
'Whether the Met chooses to investigate this complaint will show whether the ICC Act 2001 is worth the paper it’s written on'
- Public Interest Law Centre statement
“The complaint submitted on her behalf today to the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit highlights the role of UK companies and their directors in acts that constitute war crimes and genocide," the PILC said in a statement.
“Whether the Met chooses to investigate this complaint will show whether the ICC Act 2001 is worth the paper it’s written on. A proper investigation, using all powers to obtain evidence and determining whether prosecutions are possible, is the bare minimum required of a state that purports to respect international law and the Genocide Convention.”
Elbit Systems, a company with around 20,000 staff and revenues of $2bn, has been a regular target of pro-Palestinian activists in the UK over its links to Israel.
Earlier this week, prosecutors dropped charges of aggravated burglary against a group of activists linked to the proscribed direct action group Palestine Action, who were accused of raiding an Elbit Systems plant near Bristol in August 2024.
According to a new paper published in the Lancet Global Health journal, the number of “violent deaths” in Gaza during the first 16 months of Israel’s invasion exceeded 75,000, a far higher number than official figures at the time.
The Gaza Mortality Survey estimated 75,200 “violent deaths” in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 5 January 2025.
On that date in 2025, the Palestinian health ministry reported the death toll at 49,090. The new study, published on Wednesday, suggests that the actual figure was about 35 percent higher.
Researchers also found that the proportion of women, children and elderly people killed in Gaza - 56 percent of the total - as reported by health officials, was accurate.
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