Gaza Crisis: 62% of Britons Believe Israel is Guilty of War Crimes

A new YouGov survey has shown that 62% of the British public believe that the Israeli government is committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The survey also showed that even more Britions (65%) believed militant group Hamas to be guilty of war crimes in comparison with Israel.

However, more surprising is the number of Britons who believe Israel to be committing war crimes given other western attitudes towards the country. For example, in the US, a Pew Research poll showed that Americans sympathise with Israel nearly four times as much as they do with Palestinians during the current crisis.

As international opinion begins to turn against Israel, tens of thousands have taken to the streets of London to protest against the ongoing Gaza conflict. Other marches have taken place across the world in New York, Paris and even Tel Aviv.

One of the organisers of the London demonstration, Ali Amir told IBTimes UK: "Before we even started, we had 30,000 people and more and more people have joined the march.

"We have things to say. First of all, we are British and our government cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening in Israel. You have innocent civilians being killed. Babies and women, and the government isn't doing anything.

"I have a lot of friends in Gaza right now, and their life is hell. One of my friends, Hameez, volunteered for the ambulance service. After the Israelis bombed his town ... he had to remove his parents' bodies."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has said there is a "strong possibility" that Israel may be committing war crimes in Gaza while the UN Human Rights Council unanimously voted to investigate alleged crimes.

In his weekly column for the Sunday Mirror, former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott also described Israel's actions in Gaza as a "war crime" which is "brutally disproportionate and so grossly indiscriminate." However, he was criticised for his comments in some quarters after he was himself linked to accusations of war crimes during the Labour government's decision to invade Iraq.

The view of the British public and the international community contrasts with a poll from the Israel Democracy Institute which shows that 95% of Israelis currently view 'Operation Protective Edge' as a "justified" war.

According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 1,200 Palestinians -- mostly civilians -- have been killed since the beginning of Israel's Operation Protective Edge on 8 July.

The Israeli military has confirmed that 52 soldiers have been killed in the conflict with Hamas, as well as two civilians and a Thai national.

The poll used a sample size of 1658 adults and was conducted between 27 and 28 July 2014.