Bloomberg: UK Could Restrict Arms Sales to “Israel”

By Staff, Agencies

Bloomberg revealed that Britain is considering restricting some arms exports to “Israel” if the entity launches an offensive on the city of Rafah in Gaza or keeps hampering aid trucks from entering the Palestinian enclave.

The worry in London is that the expansion of attacks on Gaza by “Israeli” army without additional efforts to protect civilians may see “Israel” breaching international law, the agency said in an article on Wednesday.

“In the event of further escalation of the 'Israeli'-Palestinian conflict, legal advice given by the British government law officers to UK ministers in charge of issuing export licenses could change, potentially affecting the sale of some weapons and technologies to the ‘Jewish state’,” the sources said.

The UK’s arms sales to “Israel” amounts to £42 million [$53 million] in 2022.

Meanwhile, the potential restrictions are a sign of increased Western pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act more cautiously with the military aggression on besieged Gaza.

The amount of military aid provided to “Israel” in 2022 by its main backer, the US, stood at $3.18 billion.

In his letter to British MPs on Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron expressed “deep concern about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah,” the city near Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, which has become the last refuge for more than a million Palestinians displaced by “Israeli” attacks. “We do not underestimate the devastating humanitarian impacts that a full ground offensive, if enacted, would have,” Cameron said.

According to Bloomberg, the UK and its allies also want some 500 trucks with essential supplies to enter Gaza on a daily basis. However, “Israel” is currently letting through a “significantly smaller” number of aid vehicles, which increases the risk of famine in the Palestinian enclave, the sources said.