Rights groups and NGOs are dragging the UK government to court on Tuesday accusing it of breaching international law by supplying fighter jet parts to Israel amid the war in Gaza.
Supported by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and others, the Palestinian rights association Al-Haq is seeking to stop the government's export of UK-made components for Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.
Israel has used the American warplanes to devastating effect in Gaza and the West Bank, and the head of Amnesty UK said Britain had failed to uphold its "legal obligation... to prevent genocide" by allowing the export of key parts to Israel.
The plane's refueling probe, laser targeting system, tires, rear fuselage, fan propulsion system and ejector seat are all made in Britain, according to Oxfam, and lawyers supporting Al-Haq's case said the aircraft "could not keep flying without continuous supply of UK-made components".
It is not clear when a decision could be made following the four-day hearing at London's High Court, the latest stage in a long-running legal battle.
Lawyers for the Global Action Legal Network (GLAN) have said they launched the case soon after Israel's assault on Gaza was triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks.
Israel has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide.
The lawyers said the UK government had decided in December 2023 and April and May 2024 to continue arms sales to Israel, before in September 2024 then suspending licenses for weapons which were assessed as being for military use by the Israeli army in Gaza.
The new Labor government suspended around 30 licenses following a review of Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law, but the partial ban did not cover British-made parts for the advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets.
A UK government spokesperson told AFP it was "not currently possible to suspend licensing of F-35 components for use by Israel without prejudicing the entire global F-35 program, due to its strategic role in NATO and wider implications for international peace and security".
"Within a couple of months of coming to office, we suspended relevant licenses for the Israeli military that might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza," they said.
The government insisted it had "acted in a manner consistent with our legal obligations" and was "committed to upholding our responsibilities under domestic and international law".
But GLAN described the F-35 exemption as a "loophole" which allowed the components to reach Israel indirectly through a global pooling system.
Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe, a lawyer for GLAN, told a briefing last week the UK government had "expressly departed from its own domestic law in order to keep arming Israel", with F-35s being used to drop "multi-ton bombs on the people of Gaza".
Hamas's 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that at least 2,749 people have been killed since Israel ended a two-month ceasefire in mid-March, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,862.
"Under the Genocide Convention, the UK has a clear legal obligation to do everything within its power to prevent genocide," said Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK's chief executive.
"Yet the UK government continues to authorize the export of military equipment to Israel -- despite all the evidence that genocide is being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This is a fundamental failure by the UK to fulfil its obligations."
Al-Haq's general director Shawan Jabarin said: "The United Kingdom is not a bystander. It's complicit, and that complicity must be confronted, exposed and brought to account."
