27 Garden Court North members sign UK judges’ and lawyers’ open letter concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory
12 June 2025
More than 50,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured in Gaza since October 2023, according to UNICEF. Credit: Anas Mohammed / Shutterstock.
27 members of Garden Court North Chambers were among more than 1,130 judges, lawyers and legal experts who signed an open letter to the UK Government calling for action against Israel’s serious violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
The letter, published on 26 May 2025, calls on the UK to fulfil its legal obligation of taking all reasonable steps within its power to prevent and punish genocide, to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, and to end violations of jus cogens norms of international law.
It also called for sanctions on certain Israeli Ministers suspected of involvement in unlawful conduct. On Tuesday (10 June), the UK Government joined Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in sanctioning Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for inciting violence against Palestinian communities.
Trade sanctions, ICC arrest warrants, and an immediate ceasefire
“I signed the Gaza Lawyers’ Letter because I believe we are watching a genocide, and Article 1 of the Genocide Convention obligates state parties, which includes the UK, to prevent the international crime of genocide”, says Pete Weatherby KC, one of Garden Court North’s signatories.
“There has been a massive loss of life as a result of Israeli attacks, primarily of non-combatants and children. Public pronouncements of various Israeli Ministers and officials indicate an intention to displace the remaining Palestinian population. Civilian infrastructure – including hospitals, universities and schools has been largely destroyed. There is looming starvation as a result of Israeli policy to remove UN and other legitimate aid groups, and use food and medical supplies as a weapon of war. Add to that the refusal to allow foreign media into Gaza, and to deny access to prisoners by the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and there is a real risk that Governments who continue to supply or support Israel will be complicit in their crimes.”
Garden Court North’s Mikhil Karnik, Lucy Mair, Mira Hammad, Brigid Baillie, Helen Peden, Kate Stone, Ciara Bartlam, Tasaddat Hussain, Lyndsey Sambrooks-Wright, Alexa Thompson, Camille Warren, Alexander McColl, and Rosalind Burgin are also among signatories to the letter.
It was also signed by former Supreme Court Justices Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson, more than 70 KCs, and former Court of Appeal Judges Sir Stephen Sedley, Sir Anthony Hooper and Sir Alan Moses, as well as Matthias Kelly KC, former Chair of the Bar of England and Wales, and Brian Fee KC, former Chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland.
The letter implores Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take the following ‘concrete actions’:
- Use all available means to secure an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to ensure the urgent, unconditional and unimpeded resumption of aid, at scale, to the population of Gaza;
- Use all available means to secure the lifting of Israel’s ban upon the United Nations Relief and Works Agency throughout the entire OPT;
- Impose financial and immigration sanctions in relation to Israeli Ministers and other civil and military personnel reasonably suspected of involvement in unlawful conduct;
- Review existing trade ties with Israel; suspend the 2030 Roadmap for closer UK-Israel partnership; and impose trade sanctions upon Israel; and
- Confirm that the UK will adhere to its obligation to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in relation to the OPT.
Response to the Gaza Lawyers’ Letter
The letter has received overwhelming support and heightened media attention amid Israel’s plan instigated from 16 May, which aims to forcibly and permanently displace the population of Gaza, coerce emigration to other countries, and facilitate the development of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
On 4 June, Keir Starmer told MPs that Israel’s actions in the OPT are “appalling, counterproductive and intolerable”, before the UK Government imposed sanctions on extremist far-right ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich on 10 June.
Starmer continues to resist calls for a complete ban on arms sales to Israel. The verdict is still out on a hearing into the lawfulness of the UK Government’s licenses to sell F-35 fighter jet components and other weapons to Israel, on which Garden Court North’s Mira Hammad is among acting Counsel.
“I won’t ever forget the acronym used by Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh on behalf of South Africa in the International Court of Justice in January 2024: WCNSF ‘Wounded child, no surviving family’”, says Ciara Bartlam, one of Garden Court North’s signatories. “Those letters haunt me as much as the moving pictures of children and adults dying in Gaza. Despite judgments and declarations decrying the war crimes that are plausibly being committed, innocent human beings continue to experience a catastrophe that I can only imagine and which is intolerable. Signing a letter is the smallest of actions but it is the least we can do as human rights lawyers to maintain our commitment to the rule of law.”
Additional media
Lawyers’ Letter – UK Judges’ and Lawyers’ Open Letter Concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory – May 2025
The Guardian – UK must impose sanctions on Israel to meet legal obligations, say more than 800 lawyers
Sky News – Palestinians flock to Gaza aid centres despite concerns – as lawyers call for sanctions on Israel
BBC – Hundreds of lawyers call for UK sanctions on Israel over Gaza war
For further information, please contact Alex Blair, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers: ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk
