Declassified UK: Still no justice for British aid workers killed in Gaza

Still no justice for British aid workers killed in Gaza

A year ago this week, the Israeli air force launched three drone strikes at a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy in Gaza, killing seven international aid workers including three Britons.

As UK army veterans, the three Britons – John Chapman, James Kirby, and James Henderson – had been assisting WCK on security measures in Gaza.

The attack drew outrage from Britain’s most senior politicians, with then UK prime minister Rishi Sunak demanding a “thorough and transparent investigation” and leader of the opposition Keir Starmer describing the incident as “horrible”.

But one year on, the families of the aid workers have still not seen justice.

In an interview published this week in The Times, the Kirby family slammed the Israeli military’s investigation into the incident as a “whitewash”.

“We’d consider suing Israel if you look at it as being maybe a deterrent for them not to hit aid workers and be held accountable”, the family said, adding that they had not even been contacted by Israeli officials to apologise for the attack.

Jacqui Kirby, James’ mother, also criticised UK foreign secretary David Lammy for approaching her during a meeting at the Foreign Office and asking her who she was.

“I thought, ‘You’re coming here to meet all these families and you haven’t even done your homework to find out who each individual is’”, she said. “After that, I could barely bring myself to speak to him”.

The UK government is also coming under serious pressure to release spy plane footage that it collected on the day of the attack.

Declassified revealed last year that the Royal Air Force had sent a Shadow R1 surveillance plane over Gaza on 1 April 2024, and may have collected footage of events leading up to the tragedy.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence subsequently confirmed to Declassified that “video footage of Gaza from the Shadow R1 [surveillance] flight on 1 April is held”, but said the tape was exempt from disclosure on security grounds.

Kirby’s family is now calling for the footage to be published. “I want to know who’s made that decision not to make it public and why they haven’t”, Jacqui said.

This comes after James Henderson’s father Neil told Declassified that the “footage should not be kept hidden from our family”. He added that “the UK government must urgently disclose any evidence it holds” which might “shed light on why James was wrongly targeted by Israel”.

This puts Lammy’s strained effort to mark the anniversary of the killings in a sinister light.

Lammy declared earlier this week: “A year since an Israeli strike killed British aid workers… Gaza remains the deadliest place for humanitarians – with over 400 killed. Recent aid workers’ deaths are a stark reminder. Those responsible must be held accountable”.

If Lammy was at all serious about holding those responsible to account, he would listen to the aid workers’ families, publish the spy footage, and cease Britain’s support for Israel.

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