Category Archives: War crimes

Special forces chief tried to cover up concerns about SAS conduct in Afghanistan, inquiry told

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Whistleblower says chain of command failed to stop extrajudicial shootings, including of children, after alarm was raised

The former director of UK special forces and other senior military officers tried to cover up concerns that SAS units were carrying out unlawful killings in Afghanistan, an inquiry has heard.

A senior special forces whistleblower said the chain of command failed to stop extrajudicial shootings, including of two small children, after the alarm was first raised in early 2011. That failure allegedly allowed them to continue until 2013.

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Israel has ‘de facto state policy’ of organised torture, says UN report

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Committee highlights allegations including dog attacks and sexual violence, raising concern about impunity for war crimes

Israel has “a de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture”, according to a UN report covering the past two years, which also raised concerns about the impunity of Israeli security forces for war crimes.

The UN committee on torture expressed “deep concern over allegations of repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence”.

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UK rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite warning of possible genocide

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Exclusive: British government adopted ‘least ambitious’ option months before RSF’s massacres in El Fasher

Britain rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite intelligence warnings that the city of El Fasher would fall amid a wave of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, according to a report seen by the Guardian.

Government officials turned down the plans six months into the 18-month siege of El Fasher in favour of the “least ambitious” option of four presented.

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Sudanese militia group accused of war crimes agrees to a ceasefire

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International mediators broker three-month halt to civil war as further evidence emerges of mass civilian killings

A Sudanese paramilitary group accused of killing thousands of unarmed civilians in an ethnically motivated massacre has agreed to a truce.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is facing mounting criticism over apparent war crimes committed by its fighters in the city of El Fasher last month, said it had agreed to a “humanitarian ceasefire” put forward by the quad countries of the US, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

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Sudan’s RSF accused of ‘PR stunt’ after arresting fighters behind civilian killings

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Reports of indiscriminate violence and ethnic targeting in El Fasher have led to growing global outrage

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces claim to have arrested several of their fighters after outrage over the extent of killing in the city of El Fasher continues to build.

But the paramilitary group’s move has been greeted with scepticism from human rights campaigners and Sudanese people, who see it as an attempt to temper criticism over the violence.

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Russian drone attacks on civilians in Ukraine are war crimes, UN report concludes

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Rights commission inquiry focused on south-east of country found drones targeted gathering points and critical infrastructure

A UN rights commission has concluded that Russia’s drone attacks on civilians in south-eastern Ukraine constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In a report published this week, the commission said Russian forces, operating under a centralised command, had systematically used drones to “intentionally target civilians and civilian objects and cause harm and destruction”.

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Macron says 26 nations ready to provide postwar military backing to Ukraine

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French president says allies would either deploy ‘reassurance force’ troops to Ukraine, or be present in the area on land, sea or in the air

Twenty-six nations have pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, including an international force on land and sea and in the air, Emmanuel Macron said after a summit at which European leaders sought to pin down Donald Trump on the level of support he is willing to give Kyiv.

“The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” the French president told a press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris, standing alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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Israeli airstrikes on Tehran killed inmates in ‘apparent war crime’ – report

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Human Rights Watch also finds that Iran abused survivors of June attack, which killed 80 people

Israeli airstrikes on Tehran’s Evin prison in June killed scores of detainees, visitors and staff in what Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called an “apparent war crime”. Iranian authorities have since subjected survivors to abuse, enforced disappearances and inhumane detention conditions, the rights group said.

HRW’s investigation, based on satellite imagery, videos and witness accounts, found the 23 June Israeli airstrikes destroyed visitation halls, prison wards, the central kitchen, the medical clinic and administrative offices. No evident military targets were identified in the facility, which held more than 1,500 prisoners at the time, many of whom had been jailed for peaceful activism.

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Assault on Sudan’s Zamzam refugee camp may have killed more than 1,500 civilians

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Guardian investigation finds number killed in April attack by Rapid Support Forces far greater than current estimates

More than 1,500 civilians may have been massacred during an attack on Sudan’s largest displacement camp in April, in what would be the second-biggest war crime of the country’s catastrophic conflict.

A Guardian investigation into the 72-hour attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on North Darfur’s Zamzam camp, the country’s largest for people displaced by the war, found repeated testimony of mass executions and large-scale abductions. Hundreds of civilians remain unaccounted for.

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Israel closes 88% of cases of alleged war crimes or abuse without charges – report

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Conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence says Israel is seeking to create a ‘pattern of impunity’

Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.

Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024.

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Israel closes 88% of cases of alleged war crimes or abuse without charges – report

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Conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence says Israel is seeking to create a ‘pattern of impunity’

Nearly nine out of 10 Israeli military investigations into allegations of war crimes or abuses by its soldiers since the start of the war in Gaza have been closed without finding fault or left without resolution, according to a conflict monitor.

Unresolved investigations include the killing of at least 112 Palestinians queueing for flour in Gaza City in February 2024, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said, and an airstrike that killed 45 in an inferno at a tented camp in Rafah in May 2024.

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Mass rape, forced pregnancy and sexual torture in Tigray amount to crimes against humanity – report

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Warning: this article contains graphic and distressing testimony and images

Research documents ‘horrific and extreme’ attacks by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces and warns that impunity has meant such atrocities are expanding to new regions

Hundreds of health workers across Tigray have documented mass rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and sexual torture of women and children by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers, in systematic attacks that amount to crimes against humanity, a new report has found.

The research, compiled by Physicians for Human Rights and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH), represents the most comprehensive documentation yet of weaponised sexual violence in Tigray. It reviewed medical records of more than 500 patients, surveys of 600 health workers, and in-depth interviews with doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and community leaders.

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Israel trying to deflect blame for widespread starvation in Gaza

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Officials and ministers either deny that Palestinians are being affected by hunger or say it is not Israel’s fault

Israel is pursuing an extensive PR effort to remove itself from blame for the starvation and killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza in the face of overwhelming evidence that it is responsible.

As dozens of governments, UN organisations and other international figures have detailed Israel’s culpability, officials and ministers in Israel have attempted to suggest that there is no hunger in Gaza, that if hunger exists it is not Israel’s fault, or to blame Hamas or the UN and aid organisations for problems with distribution of aid.

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‘Humanitarian city’ would be concentration camp for Palestinians, says former Israeli PM

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Ehud Olmert says forcing people into camp would be ethnic cleansing, and anger at Israel over Gaza war is not all down to antisemitism

The “humanitarian city” Israel’s defence minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing, Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert has told the Guardian.

Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, Olmert said, and construction of the camp would mark an escalation.

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IDF opens inquiry into possible war crimes after deaths near Gaza aid sites

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Israel Defense Forces to examine growing evidence of shootings of Palestinians trying to obtain food

The Israeli military has launched an investigation into possible war crimes following growing evidence that troops have deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians gathering to receive aid in Gaza.

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks after being subjected to air attacks, shootings and bombardments by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) while waiting for food to be distributed or while making their way to distribution sites.

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Women and girls ‘not safe anywhere’ as Darfur suffers surge in sexual violence

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Médecins Sans Frontières report sparks calls for Sudan’s warring parties to be held to account for rapes and attacks

As Sudan’s Darfur region has been overrun by militias, women are facing the constant threat of sexual violence, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has reported.

The medical charity said in the South Darfur region alone its workers treated 659 sexual violence survivors between January and March this year, more than two-thirds of whom had been raped.

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Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says his country is committing war crimes

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Leader from 2006 to 2009 says Palestinian victims are at ‘monstrous proportions’ and Netanyahu heads a ‘criminal gang’

The former prime minister of Israel Ehud Olmert has said Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, and that “thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed, as well as many Israeli soldiers”.

Olmert, who was the 12th prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, wrote in an opinion piece for the Israeli newspaper and website Haaretz that “the government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success”.

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General accused of locking away SAS war crimes evidence is made navy chief

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Royal Navy leader also accused of overseeing denial of resettlement claims made by Afghans who aided UK forces

A general accused of failing to report evidence of war crimes committed by the SAS in Afghanistan has been appointed as the new head of the Royal Navy.

Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins – the first Royal Marine to become First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff – replaces Adm Sir Ben Key, who was removed from it last week while under investigation over allegations of misconduct.

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Sudan in ‘world’s largest humanitarian crisis’ after two years of civil war

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NGOs and UN say country is ‘worse off than ever before’ with wide-scale displacement, hunger and attacks on refugee camps

Sudan is suffering from the largest humanitarian crisis globally and its civilians are continuing to pay the price for inaction by the international community, NGOs and the UN have said, as the country’s civil war enters its third year.

The UK is hosting ministers from 20 countries in London on Tuesday in an attempt to restart stalled peace talks. However, diplomatic efforts have often been sidelined by other crises, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

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Sudan’s news blackout stokes fear and confusion after refugee camp attacks

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Families of those displaced wait for news from Darfur amid reports of hundreds killed by paramilitary RSF

Sudan’s information blackout has left relatives of those in Sudan’s Zamzam refugee camp struggling for news of their safety after it was overrun by militiamen at the weekend.

As leaders across the globe prepared to meet for peace talks in London to pressure the backers of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army to agree a ceasefire, the RSF launched a deadly assault, seizing Zamzam after weeks of tightening its siege.

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