The UK government’s continued refusal to suspend arms sales to Israel is inconsistent with previous wars and could make it complicit in war crimes, Oxfam has warned.

Writing ahead of an open letter that the charity is delivering to ministers, Oxfam said:

Despite the fact the government of Israel has killed over 33,000 people, forced three quarters of the population to flee their homes and destroyed vital infrastructure in Gaza, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have repeatedly defended the UK’s decision to continue arms sales.

Yet in every previous escalation of violence in Gaza and against Palestinians in the region, the UK has at least revoked some licenses or otherwise suspended arms transfers to Israel.

    In 2014, the UK government reviewed and suspended twelve export licences to Israel following the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.

    In 2009, licences for naval guns were revoked due to their use against civilians in Gaza in contravention of international humanitarian law.

    During escalations in violence in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s the UK imposed complete arms embargoes on Israel, because of violations of international law.

Aleema Shivji, Oxfam’s chief impact officer, said:

    It is illegal, immoral and inconsistent for the UK to continue to sell arms to Israel, when it is clear that UK-made weapons and components are being used in serious violation of international humanitarian law – and after it imposed restrictions in previous escalations of violence when the scale of death and destruction had been lower.

    The people of Gaza are facing unprecedented levels of bloodshed, schools and hospitals are being deliberately targeted and starvation is being used as a weapon of war. What more suffering must they endure for the UK Government to act? It must immediately suspend all arms exports – including parts and components – or it risks being complicit in war crimes.

For over 20 years, successive UK governments have sought guarantees from the Israeli government not to use any UK-exported weapons in the occupied Palestinian territory. However, Israel has frequently disregarded these conditions, and rather than enforcing them the UK government has chosen to stop imposing any conditions, Oxfam said.

Later today, campaigners will hand in an open letter, with nearly 45,000 signatories - and fronted by over 50 high profiles names from celebrities such as Annie Lennox, Brian Cox and Robert Lindsay, to a wide range of CEOs, experts and politicians - urging the foreign secretary, David Cameron, and Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch to end arms sales to Israel.

Oxfam is calling for the UK government to immediately suspend the sale of all weapons, parts and components to Israel and to use every diplomatic and economic lever at its disposal to help secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, to stop the death and destruction, allow more aid in, and to ensure the safe release of hostages.

UAVs launched from Iran bound for Israel: Reports

We are getting reports that UAVs have been launched from Iran and are headed for Israel.

Israel’s Channel 12 TV news reports that Iran has launched dozens of pilotless aircraft at targets in Israel and that their flight time was expected to take hours.

An expert interviewed by the channel, retired general Amos Yadlin, said the drones were equipped with 20 kg of explosives each and that Israel’s air defences were ready to shoot them down.

Barak Ravid, a political reporter for Axios, posted on X that Iran has launched an attack against Israel using dozens of drones, citing four US and Israeli officials.