The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed a criminal complaint in the United Kingdom against Lidor Dafna, an Israeli reservist believed to be visiting the country, over alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Dafna, who served in the 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion, is accused of participating in the demolition of a flour-producing facility in May 2025 at a time when Israel’s blockade of Gaza was leading to widespread starvation.
The foundation said footage posted by Dafna on social media shows an Israeli military bulldozer demolishing wheat silos in southern Gaza.
The filing is the latest move by the Brussels-based organization, named after Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl killed alongside her relatives when Israeli forces fired on their vehicle in Gaza City in January 2024.
By transforming self-published digital content into evidence for criminal complaints, the foundation is testing whether legal systems in other countries may be used to hold Israeli soldiers accountable for alleged crimes.
Natacha Bracq, head of litigation at the foundation, explained the urgency of the UK filing to Al Jazeera.
“If the authorities let him leave, he [Dafna] will go back and commit more crimes. When a state waves a suspect through its airport, knowing what is documented, it is breaching its obligations to prevent and punish genocide.”
A Counter Terrorism Policing spokesperson told Al Jazeera that its war crimes team has received 250 referrals “relating to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict since 7 October, 2023.”
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