KEIR Starmer has been warned he may be the prime minister “to see Britain answer at The Hague” for being “complicit in war crimes” in Gaza.
Independent MP Shockat Adam asked if the UK Government would “acknowledge that ethnic cleansing is under way and to end all UK military co-operation with Israel”.
It comes as Israeli ministers approved plans on Monday to capture the entire Gaza Strip and remain in the territory for an unspecified amount of time.
The move, if implemented, would vastly expand Israel’s operations in the Palestinian territory and would push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, likely exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, most of whom were women and children, according to Palestinian health officials.
In September, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the suspension of around 30 arms sale licences to Israel as the UK Government concluded there was a “clear risk” that some exports “might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.
However, on Wednesday The National reported how UK firms have exported thousands of military items to Israel despite the ban, according to new analysis of trade data.
MPs have continued to raise concerns about the UK’s export of parts used in F-35 fighter jets which Israel have utilised in airstrikes on Gaza.
Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer told the House on Tuesday that the Government had suspended sale of parts for F-35’s “where they go directly to Israel”, but added “where we do not know their final destination that they are not suspended”.
He was challenged by the SNP's Stephen Flynn and Chris Law, who similarly called on the UK Government to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza as ethnic cleansing.
During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Adam said: “This week the Israeli government approved a plan to officially conquer Gaza, and just yesterday (Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich) vowed that Gaza will be entirely destroyed and that the Palestinians will have to leave in great numbers to third countries.
“This comes at the end of the extermination of over 50,000 Palestinian men, women and children and at the same time, simultaneous expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, something I witnessed with my own eyes last week.
“So will now the Prime Minister finally acknowledge that ethnic cleansing is underway and to end all UK military cooperation with Israel, especially the illegal provision of F-35 fighter jet parts, or will he risk make Britain complicit in war crimes and be the prime minister to see Britain answer at The Hague for its role in this atrocity?”
Starmer replied: “Most of what (Mr Adam) says is simply not right.
“But I do want to address the position in Gaza and the West Bank, because it is increasingly intolerable, and I am deeply concerned, particularly with the lack of aid that is getting in and the impact it’s having on hundreds of thousands of individuals.
“That concern is something I recently reaffirmed to the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, where I asserted again that a two state solution is the only viable approach for peace, and our focus is on delivering peace for Palestinians and Israelis, returning to the ceasefire, getting the hostages out and humanitarian aid in that is desperately needed in greater number and more quickly.”
The UK Government granted 108 licences for military and non-military controlled goods to Israel between 7 October 2023 and 31 May 2024, according to data released in June 2024.
The UK does not export military equipment to the Palestinian Authority.
