Belgian Police Question 2 Israelis at Music Festival Over Gaza Allegations

The two Israeli nationals were questioned by Belgian police over allegations of breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.

Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike that damaged and destroyed residential buildings, at Shati (Beach) refugee camp, in Gaza City on July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Belgian police detained and questioned two Israeli nationals over allegations of breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Brussels said on Monday.

According to a statement from the prosecutor’s office, the pair—who were attending the Tomorrowland music festival—were both members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said an Israeli soldier and a civilian vacationing in Belgium “were taken in yesterday for interrogation and were released shortly afterward.”

The ministry said Israeli embassy officials “dealt with this issue and are in touch with the two.”

Tomorrowland, headlined by French DJ and singer David Guetta, took place over the weekend in Boom, near Antwerp, with about 200,000 fans in attendance.

The prosecutor’s office said the two individuals were questioned after receiving legal complaints on Friday and Saturday from the Hind Rajab Foundation and another group.

The statement said they asked the police to question the pair after the prosecutor’s office “determined that it potentially had jurisdiction.”

The Hind Rajab Foundation said it filed its complaints along with rights group Global Legal Action Network.

Last year, an article in Belgium’s code of criminal procedure took effect, granting Belgian courts jurisdiction over acts committed overseas that may fall under international treaties, such as the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1984 U.N. Convention Against Torture.

The prosecutor’s office stated: “In light of this potential jurisdiction, the federal prosecutor’s office requested the police to locate and interrogate the two individuals named in the complaint. Following these interrogations, they were released.”

Israel says the IDF follows international law and tries to avoid harming civilians and that it investigates any allegations of wrongdoing by its armed forces.

The Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgium-based nonprofit that has campaigned for the arrest of Israeli soldiers it accuses of war crimes and crimes against humanity, said the arrests on Monday were a “turning point in the global pursuit of accountability.”

“This development is a significant step forward. It signals that Belgium has recognized its jurisdiction under international law and is treating the allegations with the seriousness they deserve,” the foundation added.

“These individuals are not fringe actors or incidental participants. They are directly implicated in some of the most egregious crimes committed during Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.”

The individuals have not been named. The Epoch Times is therefore unable to contact them or their attorneys for a response to the allegations.

The conflict in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists crossed the border into Israel and murdered 1,200 Israelis, taking another 250 back into the Gaza Strip as hostages.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza says more than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023.

The Belgian arrests are the first time Israeli nationals have been questioned in Europe over allegations in Gaza.

Peru Probe

Earlier this year the Hind Rajab Foundation—which is named after a young Palestinian killed in the early stages of the conflict in Gaza—said an Israeli national who had served in the IDF in Gaza had been detained in Peru on suspicion of war crimes, following a complaint by Julio César Arbizu González, a Peruvian human rights lawyer and legal counsel to the foundation.

In May, the Hind Rajab Foundation said in a statement that Peru had opened an investigation into the Israeli citizen.

The foundation alleged he had “played a direct role in the methodical and systematic destruction of civilian neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip during the 2023–2024 military offensive.”

At the time, Dario Pendzik, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s assistant director for Latin America, said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times that “the Peruvian judicial system must not fall into this trap.”

“It is one thing to accept universal jurisdiction to avoid impunity in cases of crimes against humanity, and quite another to persecute people based on their nationality, harassing them judicially for alleged crimes attributed to their country’s authorities,” he said.

Ariel Gelblung, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s director for Latin America, said in a May 26 statement: “The perverse goal is to both destroy Israel and persecute its citizens worldwide. In other words, they believe these individuals should have no place to live. Judicial systems in the region must not and cannot allow themselves to be used to pursue or harass travelers based on their nationality.”

In October 2024, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.