NGOs call for UK government to ban arms sales to Israel over Gaza onslaught

A group of NGOs are seeking an arms embargo on Israel by the UK government due to the onslaught on Gaza, which has seen at least 40,173 people killed.

Lawyers have put forward a case detailing claims of Palestinians being tortured, left untreated in hospital, and unable to escape Israel's continuous assaults on Gaza to the high court in London, The Guardian reported.

The lawyers are acting on behalf of a group of NGOs, including Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Oxfam, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), and Human Rights Watch.

It is the first attempt to put such "graphic testimony of alleged Israeli war crimes in front of a British judge" since 7 October, according to the publication.

The lawyers submitting the claim are seeking an order to prevent the UK government from continuing to grant arms export licences to British companies selling arms to Israel.

The case consists of 14 witness statements spanning over 100 pages coming from Palestinian and Western medical doctors working in hospitals in Gaza, as well as ambulance drivers, civil defence, and aid workers.

The "graphic evidence" is reportedly made to support a request for a court order that the UK government has acted "irrationally" when refusing an arms ban to Israel, asserting there is no risk the weapons used are violating international law.

Unlike the US, the UK government grants individual licenses to companies exporting arms overseas.

The UK government has a statutory test to determine whether to grant these licenses; if there is a clear risk the weapons might be used to violate international humanitarian law, then exports will not be granted.

The Labour government is reviewing this test, but activists have accused it of deliberately prolonging a decision while Israel's war on Gaza continues.

"The UK Government continues to allow the sale of arms to Israel, despite knowing that they are likely being used to commit war crimes," Magnus Corfixen, Oxfam's humanitarian lead, told The New Arab.

"This threshold has long been met. The UK government must immediately halt all arms sales, on both new and existing licences, whether sold directly to Israel or via a third party. A partial suspension of exports to Israel will not be enough," Corfixen adds.

The UK still grants arms exports to Israel despite continuous calls for arms to be withheld amid mass civilian casualties and the destruction of schools, shelters for refugees, and whole neighbourhoods.

The Israeli military says it is acting within humanitarian law and in "self-defence" although this claim has been widely disputed by NGOs and legal experts.

Following the killing of three British aid workers in April by a targeted Israeli strike, the UK concluded it would not suspend arms exports after reviewing a further three months of Israeli bombardment.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians also alleged that the engine used in the Hermes 450 drone responsible for the killing of the aid workers was UK-made. 

The UK has licensed at least £576 million ($740 million) worth of arms exports to Israel since 2008.