Have Dutch police arrested Israelis for war crimes?

Images have been shared on social media in recent days, allegedly showing Israeli military personnel being arrested by Dutch police.

One photograph shows a police officer guiding a young woman by the arm. The caption shared alongside the picture in several posts states that it shows an Israeli named 'Yukhal Yulita' being arrested.

"BREAKING: Dutch police have hauled in Israeli officer Yukhal Yulita while she vacationed in Europe — accused by human rights groups of war crimes in Rafah, where Israel massacred civilians and levelled entire neighbourhoods," the post, shared on X, Facebook and LinkedIn, read.

Another picture claims to show Dutch police arresting a supposed Israeli major general called 'Shitan Shaul', who is allegedly a commander of the Armoured Corps. Again, social media users say he is being arrested on charges of committing war crimes in Rafah, near the Egyptian border.

A British partygoer and an Irish gangster

However, reverse image searches for both pictures revealed that the photographs feature different people who were arrested in other countries than claimed in the social media posts.

The image shared in posts related to the supposed arrest of Yukhal Yulita dates back to August 2016.

It featured in an article published at the time by the British tabloid paper The Daily Mail on people partying in the English city of Newcastle on the August Bank Holiday, which falls on the last Monday of August.

In the article, the photograph caption reads: "Police march a petite girl (right) away from the scene in the city centre".

Additionally, the label on the police officer's uniform states "police", while in the Netherlands, uniforms have the Dutch word for this role, "politie", written on them.

Meanwhile, the picture claiming to illustrate the recent arrest of 'Shitan Shaul' in fact dates to September 2022.

This photograph was included in articles by various media outlets on the arrest of "one of Europe's biggest money launderers", named by Irish newspapers as John Francis Morrissey, during a raid in southern Spain.

The operation was led by Spain's Guardia Civil—one of the country's two national police forces—of which an officer can be seen to the detainee's left in the photo, as well as the Irish Garda, of which the logo can be seen on the uniform of the person to the right in the picture.

None of the uniforms correlates with that of the Dutch police.

A spokesperson for the Dutch National Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed to Euroverify that the Dutch police had not arrested any Israeli citizen going by the name 'Yukhal Yulita' or 'Shitan Shaul'.

"No Israeli soldiers have been arrested in the Netherlands for committing war crimes," the spokesperson added.

Belgian arrests

The same photograph of the young woman being escorted by British police also featured in a viral social media post that again referred to her as an Israeli soldier named 'Yukhal Yulita'. The post stated she was one of two Israelis arrested in Belgium in connection with alleged war crimes.

"Belgian police have arrested two Israeli terrorists in connection with allegations of war crimes related to the conflict in Gaza," the post read. "The allegations include serious violations of international humanitarian law, such as the use of human shields and wanton destruction, with evidence drawn from the soldiers' social media activity."

Two members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were indeed detained by police in Belgium after a complaint was filed against them by the Belgian-based NGO Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN). They claimed the two, allegedly members of the Givati Brigade, committed serious war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The NGO monitors social media platforms to track Israeli soldiers on leave who post photos from abroad. These are usually preceded by footage from Gaza. Using these posts, the Hind Rajab Foundation calls on host countries to arrest and prosecute them.

The soldiers were attending the dance music festival Tomorrowland in Belgium, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office—which received the complaints—confirmed. Here, they were reportedly seen waving their military unit's flag.

However, the image of the young woman shared in the viral social media post does not illustrate the Belgian arrest of these two soldiers.

The cases were referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"The International Criminal Court is currently conducting an investigation into possible serious violations of humanitarian law in the Palestinian territories," the Public Prosecutor's Office said.

The court in The Hague has issued three public arrest warrants related to the Israel-Gaza conflict since the 7 October attacks.

The arrest warrants are for the highest commander of the military wing of Hamas, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant.

The Hind Rajab Foundation welcomed the decision to refer the cases to the ICC, stating this "confirms that the matter has reached the highest level of international legal attention".

However, the NGO was critical of Belgium, arguing it should have gone further.

"In our view, the suspects should not only have been arrested, but also detained and either prosecuted in Belgium or extradited to the ICC," a statement read. "Releasing individuals credibly accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity not only undermines public trust in justice, but risks reinforcing a sense of impunity and may enable those individuals to commit further atrocities."