Hamas wanted to dig up British war heroes’ graves in Gaza to blackmail the UK government, documents found by Israel suggest

Hamas planned to unearth buried British and Commonwealth war heroes in Gaza in a bid to blackmail the government, newly discovered documents suggest. 

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) led by the UK Defence Secretary has preserved the graves of over 3,000 Commonwealth veterans from World War I and II. 

Thousands of troops died battling with the Ottomans for power of the Gaza Strip 1917. 

The devastating war made way for British administration to take hold in Palestine for over three decades. 

The documents, supposedly found in the war-torn country and shared with the Telegraph by Israeli officials, detail an alleged scheme to dig up dead troops and hold them hostage. 

Over 3,000 Commonwealth veterans from World War I and II are buried in Gaza following conflict with the Ottomans (pictured)

Lance Corporal Robert Edward Roberts, 19, of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers was killed during the war in Gaza with the Ottomans

Israeli officials claim the plot was discovered at a base linked to Hamas chiefs Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif in Khan Younis last January. 

They are under the assumption the plot was drawn up by an unknown official in October 2022 – and was sparked by ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss’ hopes to relocate the British Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. 

The seven-page alleged document had a list of demands, including the removal of buried Commonwealth troops to graves outside Gaza, backdated ‘lease fees’ for use of the grave sites since 1917, or a renouncement of the Jerusalem statement. 

‘If the British government does not meet the aforementioned demands, the Gaza municipality will act to remove all the corpses from the cemeteries and collect them in a special location by judicial order, declaring that the corpses are considered captive until a solution or deal is found,’ the supposed Hamas document read.

‘The British government will find itself in an embarrassing position in front of the British people, its political elite and its military if any country desecrates the corpses of its soldiers.’

Israeli officials claim the document was created before the current conflict in Gaza. 

But as the Commonwealth grave sites are currently under Hamas control, they believe the threat of blackmail is still possible.  

Second Lieutenant Stanley Henry Parry Boughey, 21, of the Royal Scots Fusillers was also laid to rest in Palestine 

Edward Whatley, 19, a rifleman from the Hampshire Regiment who is buried in Gaza

‘The tactic depicted in this document is intended to quite literally terrorise the people of the UK as a whole in order to influence political decisions,’ an Israeli official told The Telegraph. 

‘There is no way to rule out that Hamas will use this strategy or other similar ones to influence external affairs or anything within their 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-contested holy site.

David Lammy spoke out against Itamar Ben-Gvir’s actions in making a trip to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound – known to Jews as Temple Mount – yesterday.

He added Britain’s voice to international condemnation of the Israeli national security minister during a time of rapidly rising tensions in the Middle East.

The visit also earned a rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.