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Unexploded WWII Bomb Closes London City Airport

FILE PHOTO: Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016.
FILE PHOTO: Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016.
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Unexploded WWII Bomb Closes London City Airport

FILE PHOTO: Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016.
FILE PHOTO: Aircraft stand idle at City Airport after a protest closed the runway causing flights to be delayed, in London, Britain September 6, 2016.

London City Airport says all flights in and out have been canceled for Monday after an unexploded World War II-era bomb was found nearby in the River Thames at King George V Dock.

Police said the ordnance was found during work at the airport on Sunday and they set up a 200-metre exclusion zone, adding that all properties within the zone had been evacuated and a number of roads were cordoned off.

London's Metropolitan Police and Royal Navy are cooperating to remove the bomb.

Robert Sinclair, CEO of London City Airport, the city’s fifth biggest and the most central, said: “The airport is cooperating fully with the Met Police and Royal Navy and working hard to safely remove the device and resolve the situation as quickly as possible,” Reuters reported.

British Airways said it was trying to minimize disruption for passengers after the airport’s closure.

“We are rebooking customers due to travel today onto alternative flights or offering refunds for those who no longer wish to travel,” the airline said in a statement.

London was heavily bombed during the Nazi German air attacks of September 1940 to May 1941, according to AFP.

London City Airport opened in 1987 in the disused docklands.

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Pro-Palestinian NGOs Sue Dutch Gov't over Israel Support

A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
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Pro-Palestinian NGOs Sue Dutch Gov't over Israel Support

A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)
A Palestinian flag is removed from a building by Israeli authorities after being put up by an advocacy group that promotes coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (AP)

Pro-Palestinian groups took the Dutch state to court Friday, urging a halt to arms exports to Israel and accusing the government of failing to prevent what they termed a genocide in Gaza.

The NGOs argued that Israel is breaking international law in Gaza and the West Bank, invoking, amongst others, the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention set up in the wake of the Holocaust.

"Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid" and "is using Dutch weapons to wage war", said Wout Albers, a lawyer representing the NGOs.

"Dutch weapons are killing children, every day, in Palestine, including my family," said Ahmed Abofoul, a legal advisor to Al Haq, one of the groups involved in the suit, AFP reported.

Israel furiously denies accusations of genocide as it presses on with the offensive in Gaza it began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

Opening the case at the court in The Hague, judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: "It is important to underline that the gravity of the situation in Gaza is not contested by the Dutch State, nor is the status of the West Bank."

"Today is about finding out what is legally in play and what can be expected of the State, if the State can be expected to do more, or act differently than it is currently acting," she added.

She acknowledged this was a "sensitive case", saying: "It's a whole legal debate."

The lawyer for the Dutch State, Reimer Veldhuis, said the Netherlands has been applying European laws in force for arms exports.

Veldhuis argued the case should be tossed out.

"It is unlikely that the minister responsible will grant an arms export licence to Israel that would contribute to the Israeli army's activities in Gaza or the West Bank," said Veldhuis.