The current situation
- At the time of writing, the confirmed death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza stands at 44,300, with 104,933 people wounded. A further 11,000 are missing, many buried under the rubble. It is likely that far more have died from hunger and disease, the result of Israel’s deliberate destruction of healthcare, housing, civilian infrastructure, and agricultural land and facilities, and the obstruction of aid supplies. Throughout the war, Israel has restricted the flow of aid to far below what is needed, and in recent months it has dropped even further.
- As a result of Israel’s policy of deliberate starvation of Gaza, the UN warned in early November 2024 that “There is a strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip”. The most recent assessment by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), released in October, found that in the coming months, 345,000 people in Gaza (16% of the population) would face “catastrophic” levels of hunger, the worst level (phase 5), a further 876,000 faced “emergency” levels of hunger (41% of the population), with 91% of the population, 1.95 million people, facing at least “crisis” (phase 3).
- Israel has, for over 50 days, imposed an almost complete siege on Northern Gaza in particular, with very little aid allowed in, and particularly intensive bombing and ground attacks, while forcing large numbers of people to flee south. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) recently stated that Israel had refused 82 of 91 requests to bring aid into Northern Gaza from early October to 25 November 2024, and that “The conditions for survival are diminishing for the 65,000-75,000 people estimated to remain there”. The UN’s top humanitarian official, Joyce Msuya, warned in late October 2024 that “The entire population of north Gaza is at imminent risk of dying”. Israeli human rights group B’tselem has accused Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing in north Gaza.
- In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas commander Mohammed Dei for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant included using starvation as a method of warfare; murder, persecution and other inhumane acts; and intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population. The charges against Deif included murder, extermination, torture, rape and other sexual violence, cruel treatment, taking hostages, and outrages upon personal dignity.
- In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ, also known as the World Court), in response to a case brought by South Africa under the Genocide Convention, found that it was plausible that Israel’s actions in Gaza amounted to genocide. The Court imposed interim measures on Israel aimed at preventing the risk of genocide, which Israel ignored, along with further interim measures imposed in April. Numerous NGOs and human rights groups, international lawyers and genocide scholars have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, as well as the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, named after Ralph Lemkin, who first coined the term genocide.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has been waged in large part with US weapons, including all Israel’s fighter aircraft used to bomb Gaza, and most of the bombs and missiles to go with them. US military aid to Israel since October 7 2023 reached $17.9 billion by 30 September 2024, according to the Costs of War project at Brown University. The supplies include a constant supply of spare parts and munitions to keep Israel’s aircraft operating.
- On 2 September 2024, the UK government suspended around 30 export licences for military equipment to Israel. However, they allowed the supply of components for the F-35 combat aircraft to Israel to continue, provided these components go via a third country such as the US, and not directly. Israel has 39 F-35s, one of the aircraft it uses to bomb Gaza, including with devastating 2,000lb bombs. On the very day of the government’s decision, it was revealed that an F-35 was used in an attack on a supposed “safe zone” in Al-Mawasi in Gaza, killing 90 people. For more on the government’s decision and the role of the F-35, see our briefing.
- Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, along with the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), have brought a judicial review case against the UK government over their continued arms supplies to Israel. Following an initial hearing in November, the case is to be heard in full in 2025. Following the ICC’s arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, Al-Haq and GLAN have sought an emergency injunction against all UK arms sales to Israel.
UK arms sales to Israel
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, July 2024
UK arms sales to Israel are much smaller than those of the US or Germany, but nonetheless involve a significant supply of crucial components for Israeli weapons systems, including those that are being actively used in the genocide in Gaza. Detailed information on UK arms exports to Israel can be found in our recent briefing. Further details of export licences can be found on our online UK export licences browser.
Between 2015-2023, the value of Single Individual Export Licences (SIELs) for arms sales to Israel was £492 million. However, this does not include the value of exports conducted using secretive open licences, in particular components for the F-35 combat aircraft, for which most exports are conducted under an Open General Export Licence (OGEL) (see below).
Moreover, a lot of UK arms sales to Israel go indirectly via the US, as components for major equipment made by the US and then sold (or provided as military aid) to Israel. A recent response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that, from October 2021 to the end of 2023, a total of £165 million worth of ‘incorporation’ SIELs were issued for export to the US, for which Israel was one of the authorised destinations for the complete equipment that the UK components would go into, This far exceeds the value of SIELs for direct export to Israel during the same period. Of this figure, £52 million was for components for which Israel was the only authorised final destination.
The government’s partial suspension of export licences to Israel covered components for combat aircraft, helicopters and UAVs, and targeting equipment, which the government judged was for use in Gaza. However, it left in place licences for equipment such as components for trainer aircraft and naval vessels, as well as for components going to Israel’s arms industry to be included in equipment for onward export.
Thanks to another FOI request, information on UK companies with recent arms export licences to Israel can be explored on our interactive map.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
Most importantly, the government exempted components for the F-35 from the suspension, despite admitting in court that there was a ‘clear risk’ that these planes would be used in serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
The UK, and BAE Systems in particular, has been a major partner in the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, supplying a wide variety of key components. According to Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the F-35, UK industry will supply 15% of every F-35 produced. BAE Systems, Leonardo and L3Harris are among the companies involved. All 79 companies registered for the OGEL covering the F-35 programme are shown on our interactive map.
By the end of 2023, the USA had delivered 39 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to Israel. Israel has a further 36 on order. (Data from SIPRI Arms Transfers Database). Israel has been using the F-35s extensively to bomb Gaza, operating them at a far higher rate than normal. This has depended on a constant supply of spare parts from the US and other countries producing components, including the UK. A US Congressional hearing in December 2023 heard that programme officials were working at “breakneck speed” to rush spare parts for the F-35 to Israel. Thus, without continued supply from the UK arms industry as well as others, Israel would not be able to keep these planes flying and devastating Gaza.
UK arms exports to the US that relate to the F-35 programme are covered by an “Open General Export License” (OGEL), which allows companies registered for the OGEL to make unlimited deliveries related to the F-35 without further need for licensing, until further notice. The quantities exported under this OGEL are therefore unknowable. However, based on the unit cost of the F-35, and the UK’s 15% share, the value of UK components in Israel’s 39 aircraft is likely to be around £360 million, not counting spare parts. It is certainly the most significant element of the UK arms trade with Israel.
