Hamas planned to unearth British and Commonwealth war heroes buried in Gaza in a bid to blackmail the government, newly discovered documents suggest.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), headed by the UK Defence Secretary, has preserved the graves of over 3,000 Commonwealth veterans of the First and Second World Wars.
Thousands of troops died fighting the Ottomans for control of the Gaza Strip in 1917.
The devastating war allowed the British administration to assume control of Palestine for more than three decades.
The documents, reportedly found in the war-torn country and shared with the Telegraph by Israeli officials, detail an alleged plan to dig up dead troops and hold them hostage.
Hamas was planning to unearth British and Commonwealth soldiers buried in Gaza in a bid to blackmail the government, newly discovered documents suggest (pictured: smoke rising after an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in Gaza)
More than 3,000 Commonwealth veterans of World War I and II are buried in Gaza following the conflict with the Ottomans (pictured)
Lance Corporal Robert Edward Roberts, aged 19, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was killed during the war in Gaza with the Ottomans.
Israeli officials say the plot was uncovered at a base linked to Hamas chiefs Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif in Khan Younis last January.
The plot is believed to have been hatched by an unknown official in October 2022 and was sparked by former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ hopes to move the British embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
The purported seven-page document contained a list of demands, including the transfer of Commonwealth troops buried in graves outside Gaza, retroactive “rental fees” for the use of graves dating back to 1917 or a waiver of the Jerusalem declaration.
“If the British government does not comply with the above-mentioned demands, the Gaza municipality will act to remove all bodies from the cemeteries and collect them in a special place by court order, declaring that the bodies are considered captive until a solution or agreement is found,” the purported Hamas document reads.
‘The British Government will find itself in an embarrassing position vis-a-vis the British people, its political elite and its military if any country desecrates the corpses of its soldiers.’
Israeli officials say the document was created before the current conflict in Gaza.
But since the Commonwealth burial sites are currently under Hamas control, they believe the threat of blackmail is still possible.
Second Lieutenant Stanley Henry Parry Boughey, aged 21, of the Royal Scots Fusillers, was also buried in Palestine.
Edward Whatley, 19, a rifleman in the Hampshire Regiment who is buried in Gaza
“The tactics described in this document are literally intended to terrorise the UK population as a whole in order to influence political decisions,” an Israeli official told The Telegraph.
“There is no way to rule out Hamas using this or similar strategies to influence foreign affairs or anything within its agenda in the future.”
This comes shortly after Foreign Secretary David Lammy criticised a “deliberately provocative” visit by an Israeli minister to Jerusalem’s most disputed holy site.
David Lammy spoke out against the actions of Itamar Ben-Gvir when he traveled yesterday to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
He has joined Britain in condemning the Israeli national security minister internationally at a time of rapidly escalating tensions in the Middle East.
The visit also drew a rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.