LONDON, United Kingdom: London’s High Court has rejected a request to suspend UK arms exports to Israel, lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Tuesday.
A coalition of legal groups last month asked the High Court to speed up a judicial review of the UK government’s decision to continue selling military parts and weapons to Israel.
The UK’s strategic licensing criteria clearly state that weapons should not be exported if there is a clear risk that they could be used to violate international humanitarian law.
The plaintiffs, led by the Palestinian group Al-Haq and including the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), argued that the government was ignoring its own rules in the Gaza conflict.
But the court ruled against the measure, the lawyers said in a statement to the media on Tuesday, adding that they would appeal the decision.
Pro-Palestinian groups have filed several court cases seeking to stop arms exports to Israel amid rising casualties and injuries in the Gaza Strip.
An appeals court in The Hague ruled in mid-February that the Netherlands must stop supplying parts for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel in the Gaza Strip because there was a “clear risk” that the planes would be involved in violations of international humanitarian law.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 29,195 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.
