Thirst for justice
Umer Khalid mounts pressure on the UK Gov's complicity in war crimes.
Political prisoner Umer Khalid, 22, member of the recently proscribed direct action group Palestine Action, will escalate his hunger strike to a thirst strike this Saturday.
Currently on his 9th day of hunger strike, and still suffering complications from the previous wave, Umer is committed to drastically increasing pressure on the UK Government. He has issued a new list of demands, building on the last, with additions:
Release surveillance footage from RAF spy flights taken during the murder of British aid workers in Gaza, by an Elbit made drone.
Re-open the Gaza enquiry.
Full disclosure of evidence regarding damage costs from the action at RAF Brize Norton, for which 5 Palestine Action members are in prisoned.
The full list of demands are: End censorship, immediate bail and fair trial for all Palestine Action prisoners, deproscribe Palestine Action and shut Elbit down.
UK Authorities support Israel more than UK citizens.
7 aid workers, 3 of them British, were killed while travelling through a ‘safe-zone’ in a clearly marked armoured vehicles, as part of a World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity convoy on April 1st 2024.
The 3 brits, all ex-military personnel, had been part of the security team and were coordinating movements directly with the IOF. They were hit soon after leaving the WCK warehouse, while carrying supplies to feed thousands of people being starved by the Isreali blockade, in Northern Gaza.
Three missiles hit the convoy over a 5 minute period, in quick succession. Each vehicle was struck individually, killing a few occupants, whilst the other passengers attempted to escape. Each time the survivors took shelter in the next vehicle it was bombed. Everyone in the convoy was eventually killed.
The Israeli regimes’ spokes people, including Netanyahu, called the strikes an “unintentional”, despite having murdered more than 562 aid workers since October 2023. After an ‘investigation’ into the incident, the IOF said a drone operator thought the convoy had been taken over by Hamas. Subsequently, two officers were sacked and 2 commanders ‘formally reprimanded’, according to only the IOF: raising doubts about the authenticity of these claims.
After expressing initial condolences, the UK Government has had no contact with the bereaving families and refused independent legal inquiry. In internal leaks, legal experts have iterated that continued arms sales and intelligence sharing with the Israeli regime, amount to UK aiding and abetting genocide, in breach of international human rights (IHR) law.
The aid-workers were stuck by an Elbit Systems drone, carrying UK made parts, whilst the RAF spy planes flew overhead. The RAF has flown over Gaza at least 600 times since October 2023, and has been relaying intelligence in real-time to the Israeli regime. The pretext was to ‘locate the hostages’, but flights routinely took place over areas of active genocide and not in areas the hostages were thought to be kept.
The Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) confirmed in a Freedom of information (FOI) request that “video footage of Gaza from the Shadow R1 [surveillance] flight on 1 April is held”, but has denied disclosure on national security grounds. The footage sheds light on the moments leading up to the strike, likely disputing Israeli claims of “Hamas gunmen” nearby.
Complicity and accountability
The Gaza inquiry bill, sponsored by Jeremy Corbyn on behalf of several independent MPs, was read in the House of Commons on 4th June 2025. Designed to answer questions like: What arms have been supplied to Israel? Which of those weapons have been used in Gaza and the west bank? Is the Government’s position that they cannot or will not bring the F-35 programme into line with the UK’s legal obligations? and many more.
But with bureaucratic processes moving at snails pace, MPs, government insiders, international lawyers and investigative journalists joined forces to stage their own independent tribunal.
The findings from this tribunal sent shock waves through international media and catalysed moves towards accountability. But this is not enough. As the genocide in Palestine continues, life in Gaza and the occupied West Bank becomes increasingly untenable. Another round of organised inquiry is needed to maintain global resistance to the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinians from their homeland.
Protections for property not people.
In June 2025, Palestine actionists sprayed paint on warplanes at RAF Brize Norton, with intent to “interrupt Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes”. The activists escaped undetected. Later, 5 people were then arrested and charged for conspiracy to enter a prohibited place and criminal damage.
In the days following, Yvette Cooper moved to proscribe Palestine Action under section 3 of the Terrorism act. Explicitly citing the action as the “latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage”, that threatens the “UK’s defence enterprise [that is] vital to national security”. In spite of Downing Street’s admission that the incident had “not blocked any planned aircraft movements or stopped any operations”.
In fact, both aircraft affected were flying again the next month. After MoD confirmation of the tail numbers, flight tracking data revealed that ZZ338 was back in the air 1st July and ZZ343 on the 12th. ZZ338 has been directly linked to airstrikes on Yemen, which killed at least 27 civilians including children, and helped Israel evade the Houthi-imposed Red Sea blockade.
RAF Brize Norton has also served as a base for Israeli warplanes, with at least 9 having landed there since September 2024. Those planes provide air-to-air refuelling to fighter jets, that conduct genocidal bombing campaigns in Gaza.
Exact damage figures for the Brize Norton action have been widely disputed. With outlets like the Times and LBC claiming tens of millions, whilst the Staffordshire Police quote a more conservative £7m estimate. However, a FOI request revealed that the MoD cannot substantiate any of the reported figures, and are thus unable to clarify the ‘financial impact’ used to justify proscription.
The £7m figure circulated was found to come from a private corporation called AirTanker Ltd, which leases the planes to the RAF through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme. The same schemes used to erode our NHS. As a result, £353m a year is paid out of our taxes, by the MoD, to AirTanker. AirTanker has not provided a breakdown of costs calculation.
The damage caused by the Brize Norton action was widely used by legacy media and Politicians to manufacture consent, among MPs and the public, for the proscription of Palestine Action. The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), based within MI5, said however, that the “the majority of direct action by Palestine Action would not be classified as terrorism”, as they do not “explicitly advocate for violence against persons”.
The governments Proscription Review Group dispute that national security concerns were a central reason for the proscription, as the “overall impact” on the UK war machine is “low by proportion, but impact on individual companies has been large”. Begging the question whether the Home Office is doing the bidding of specific private companies, rather than acting in the nation's best interests. Which they are.
Umer’s struggle
Umer is using his hunger and thirst to push for disclosure of key information in the fight against the war machine. He is held in HMP Wormwoods Scrubs on prolonged pre-trial custody. After beginning his first hunger strike on 2nd of November, with seven other political prisoners, he was forced to end his strike after 13 days due to underlying health conditions. This rolling hunger strike constitutes the largest politically motivated prison hunger strike in recent UK history.
Umer is enduring repeated violations of his human rights and unusually harsh conditions, even compared to the other political prisoners:
Kept in prolonged isolation, locked in his cell for more than 23 hours a day.
Visits have been restricted to 2 a week, whilst other prisoners get daily visits.
Inadequate healthcare for preexisting conditions.
Censorship on calls and letters.
Last week several other Palestine Action political prisoners ended their hunger strikes, well into the danger zone and past the point where similar actions have resulted in death. Media outlets consistently ignored Umer, citing only 7 hunger strikers. Umer, the 8th hunger striker, continues.
Although his body had already been considerably weakened by earlier efforts, he resumed hunger strike on the 9th of January.
He will begin refusing water on January 25th, which can lead to death in only a few days.
It is up to us on the outside to amplify his message and use his resistance to galvanise our own. You can find his most recent statements on social media: @prisoners4palestine and @freeumerkhalid on instagram and TikTok.
This is a call to action, long live the intifada.
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