HRF Files UK Criminal Complaint Against Israeli Soldier Over Destruction of Food Facility Amid Gaza Starvation

25 October 2026, Brussels, Belgium – The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a criminal complaint with authorities in the United Kingdom (UK) against Lidor Dafna, an Israeli soldier serving in the 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide committed in the Gaza Strip.

Dafna serves as a D9 armored bulldozer operator and, as a reservist, has taken part in operations in Gaza and Lebanon, from November 2023 onwards, including in Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Rafah. HRF has reason to believe Dafna is currently in the United Kingdom.

The Destruction of the Great Ocean Mills and the Weaponization of Hunger

Dafna documented his own deployment on social media. His posts place him in Gaza City in November 2023, where he photographed himself at the Sarafand Boys School holding a sign reading “Opening Soon – A new Branch of Sabich Hasharon,” an Israeli fast-food chain. He subsequently documented his unit's demolition operations in Khan Younis and Rafah. Dafna was later deployed to Lebanon.

The main allegation in HRF’s filing against Dafna focuses on the destruction of the Great Ocean Mills, an industrial flour-producing facility in the Morag Corridor between Khan Younis and Rafah, on 25 May 2025. Footage posted by Dafna himself shows a bulldozer demolishing the facility's wheat silos. In the weeks that followed, Israeli forces occupied the building and turned it into as a military base and reportedly used it to shoot starving Palestinians seeking food aid at a nearby Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site. In the months that followed and by August 2025, the Israeli army killed at least 1,400 Palestinians seeking food aid near GHF sites.

At the time of its destruction, Israel had sealed the Gaza Strip to all food, fuel, and medicine. Flour was being sold for as much as US$70 per kilogram, and half a million people in Gaza were facing starvation.

The 603rd Battalion's Record of Destruction

The 603rd Battalion has served as a core operational arm in Israel’s systematic destruction across the Gaza Strip. HRF documented over 60 controlled demolitions of buildings, including mosques and entire residential blocks, and the razing of entire communities that rendered large swathes of Gaza uninhabitable. The battalion also played a key role in establishing the Morag Corridor, a process accompanied by the widespread and systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure, agricultural land and the built environment.

Dafna’s Crimes

HRF's investigation indicates that Dafna may be criminally responsible for war crimes, including:

·       Extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity;

·       Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects;

·       Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare; 

·       The crime against humanity of extermination; and

·       The act of genocide consisting of deliberately inflicting on the Palestinian group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part.

Images posted by Israeli soldier Lidor Dafna himself, documenting his direct participation in military operations across Gaza as part of the 603rd Combat Engineering Battalion, implicated in the widespread destruction of Palestinian civilian infrastructure.

HRF’s request

HRF calls on the UK authorities to act urgently on this complaint: to open an investigation, arrest and question Dafna without delay, and ensure the UK does not serve as a safe haven by those implicated in committing international crimes in Gaza.

As the UK authorities are aware, Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention imposes an express obligation on every High Contracting Party to “search for” persons alleged to have committed, or ordered, grave breaches of the Convention, irrespective of nationality. That obligation, reproduced in Schedule 4 to the Geneva Conventions Act 1957, is the treaty basis for the grave-breaches system of universal jurisdiction.

This obligation is currently being tested in real time. An active Israeli soldier is currently walking free in London, touring the city. This case further demonstrates the need to question all Israeli adults entering the country about their service in the Israeli army, and in particular about any deployment to Gaza and Lebanon, and arrest those suspected of international crimes where the evidence supports it.

Dyab Abou Jahjah, General Director at HRF:

“"Lidor Dafna filmed himself destroying one of the last remaining food production facilities serving a starving population, then posted the footage on social media as a trophy. The United Kingdom now faces a simple test: will it arrest and prosecute a man, who remains an active soldier of an army carrying out such crimes, or once again permit a perpetrator of genocide to walk freely on its soil and return to Gaza to continue committing his crimes? We have filed our complaint. Now it is up to the British authorities to act."”

Natacha Bracq, Head of Litigation at HRF:

“"Lidor Dafna remains an active reservist in the very battalion that carried out this destruction and can be called back at any time to serve in Gaza or Lebanon, where his unit continues to operate. Under the Genocide Convention, the UK's duty to prevent genocide arises the moment it knows, or should know, of a serious risk of genocide. A soldier filmed destroying a starving population’s means of survival should never be free to board a plane much less return to military service. Allowing him to exit the country would be in breach of the UK’s international obligations."”

HRF will continue to identify, document, and pursue those responsible for weaponizing hunger and destroying Palestinian lives, wherever they travel and wherever accountability can be sought. Crossing a border does not erase a crime. Leaving Gaza does not extinguish responsibility. We will follow the evidence, pursue the perpetrators, and challenge every safe haven until those responsible face justice.