U.K. suspending some arms exports to Israel over risk of breaking international law

The British government said Monday it is suspending exports of some weapons to Israel because they could be used to break international law.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said there is a “clear risk” some items could be used to “commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

He told lawmakers the decision related to about 30 of 350 export licenses for equipment “that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza,” including parts for military aircraft and drones and items used for ground targeting.

He said it was “not a determination of innocence or guilt” about whether Israel had broken international law, and was not an arms embargo.

Britain is among a number of Israel’s longstanding allies whose governments are under growing pressure to halt weapons exports because of the toll of the 11-month-old war in Gaza. which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

British firms sell a relatively small amount of weapons and components to Israel. Earlier this year the government said military exports to Israel amounted to 42 million pounds ($53 million) in 2022.

The U.K.’s center-left Labour government, elected in July, has faced pressure from some of its own members and lawmakers to apply more pressure on Israel to stop the violence. In the election the party lost several seats it had had been expected to win to pro-Palestinian independents after leader Keir Starmer initially refused to call for a cease fire shortly after Israel retaliated for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed about 1,200 people.

In a departure from the stance of its Conservative predecessor, Starmer’s government said in July that the U.K. will not intervene in the International Criminal Court’s request for an arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Starmer also restored funding for the United Nations’ Palestine relief agency UNRWA, which had been suspended by his Conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak’s government in January.

Lammy, who has visited Israel twice in the past two months as part of Western efforts to push for a cease fire, said he was a “friend of Israel,” but called the violence in Gaza “horrifying.”

“Israel’s actions in Gaza continue to lead to immense loss of civilian life, widespread destruction to civilian infrastructure, and immense suffering,” he said.