An in-depth investigation by independent UK-based investigative outlet Declassified UK has exposed that a British-born citizen served as a soldier in the Israeli military during the 2023-2024 Gaza campaign and posed for a photograph in front of a destroyed, burning school in the enclave. The findings, which were presented in a YouTube documentary released Tuesday titled *”We Exposed a British-Israeli Who Fought in Gaza”*, center on Jonathan Burman, a British national who posted the image of himself in uniform on his private Instagram account before it was obtained by investigators.
Independent transparency monitoring non-profit Airwars cross-referenced geographic details of the photo to confirm the structure in the background is Madrasa al-Farabi, a school located in Bani Suheila, a town east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. The site was attacked by Israeli forces on December 12, 2023, more than two months after the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza launched following the October 7 2023 Hamas attack.
When contacted for comment by Declassified, the Israeli military referenced a December 2023 statement claiming its forces had eliminated a Hamas terrorist cell operating from a school in the area. But Airwars investigators confirmed that the incident the IDF cited occurred at a different campus located two kilometers from Madrasa al-Farabi, the site where Burman posed for the viral photo.
According to Declassified’s reporting, Burman attended the elite Manchester Grammar School in northwest England before taking a gap year in Israel, after which he formally enlisted in the Israeli Defense Forces. The IDF confirmed to investigators that Burman served in the 55th Brigade, an elite reserve paratrooper unit, with Declassified’s reporting indicating he was most likely assigned to the brigade’s 66th Battalion. Burman also shared additional photos from his deployment on his personal account, including images of himself in heavily damaged areas of Khan Younis, on deployment in Lebanon, and posing with other soldiers in military uniform.
The documentary includes an interview with Yuval Green, a former medic who served in the 66th Battalion, who described extreme ideological motivations among some members of the unit. Green stated, “Some of the people are really driven by crazy insane religious ideas. This [fighting in Gaza] was just an opportunity for them to kill as many Gazans as they can and kick them out and get their lands.”
Research from the Hind Rajab Foundation, a Palestinian casualty documentation organization, was also cited in the investigation, which linked Burman to a company within the battalion that the foundation says was involved in intense close-quarters combat and the demolition of hundreds of residential structures across Khan Younis, leaving large swathes of the southern Gaza city in ruins.
Chris Sidoti, a sitting member of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, appeared in the documentary and endorsed the rigor of Declassified’s investigative work. He noted that while the reporting does not itself prove Burman committed war crimes, the evidence collected is substantial enough to require formal follow-up. Sidoti called on London’s Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit to open a formal investigation into Burman’s actions during his deployment in Gaza.
To date, Burman has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Declassified UK on the investigation’s findings.
Estimates indicate that approximately 2,000 dual British-Israeli nationals have served in the Israeli military during the ongoing Gaza campaign, which a separate UN Commission of Inquiry concluded last year constituted an act of genocide against the Palestinian people. Since the start of the campaign, Israeli forces have killed more than 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, with an additional 170,000 wounded. Thousands more Palestinians remain missing, presumed dead under rubble destroyed by Israeli air strikes and ground operations. For context, the October 7 2023 Hamas attack that precipitated the Israeli campaign killed approximately 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians.
This new call for investigation comes months after London’s Metropolitan Police announced in April 2024 that it would not open probes into 10 other British nationals accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity while serving with the IDF in Gaza. That decision followed the submission of a 240-page evidence dossier by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the Public Interest Law Centre to the Met’s War Crimes Team in 2023. Police at the time said there was no realistic prospect of securing a conviction and that a full, effective investigation could not be carried out from the UK.