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Over 100 MPs urge UK government to ban arms sales to Israel

A boy stands by items that were salvaged from a building that was hit overnight during Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 26, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

More than 100 British MPs have urged the UK government to immediately ban arms sale to Israel, as the occupying regime continues its brutal war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

The appeal was made in a letter signed by 130 parliamentarians on Wednesday, calling on UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron to act as other countries like Canada who have halted arms exports to Israel.

The letter argued that “business as usual” for UK arms exports to Israel is “totally unacceptable,” noting that an F-16 fighter jet made with UK parts was probably responsible for bombing British doctors in Gaza two months ago.

The letter further noted that the UK government has suspended arms sales to Israel during the two previous wars on Gaza.

“The scale of violence committed by the Israeli military is vastly more deadly, but the UK government has failed to act,” it said.

The letter, coordinated by Labour MP Zarah Sultana, was signed by 107 MPs and 27 peers, amid signs that the Israeli regime intends to ignore the recent UN Security Council resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

 A total of 46 Labour MPs have backed the call and almost the entire Scottish National party (SNP) parliamentary party.

“With the Israeli regime now seemingly disregarding the UN Security Council’s ceasefire resolution, it is again violating international law and making the case for an end to arms sales impossible to ignore,” Sultana said.

“The UK government must finally uphold the rights of the Palestinian people, heed this call from 130 cross-party parliamentarians, and immediately end arms sales to Israel.”

On Monday, the UNSC adopted a long-awaited resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The resolution was put forward by the 10 non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. The US abstained and the 14 other council members all voted in favor of it.

Palestinian resistance movements have welcomed the resolution, but Israel’s minister for military affairs Yoav Gallant said the regime will not stop its attacks in Gaza.

The UN Security Council’s call for a ceasefire comes as international fears have grown over the planned Israeli ground invasion of Gaza's southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter.

Human rights groups say a ground invasion of Rafah would drastically worsen a heavy civilian death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

Israel unleashed its war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance group Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 32,300 Palestinians and injured over 74,000 others.

The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.


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