UK ignored Gaza legal warnings to keep Israel arms flowing: report
Sarah Khalil and Oliver Mizzi report in The New Arab on 25 September 2026:
Internal UK government documents reveal that ministers continued to approve arms exports to Israel despite receiving assessments warning that its conduct in Gaza could breach international humanitarian law, according to a new investigation.
Hundreds of pages of Foreign Office assessments obtained by Channel 4’s Dispatches show how the British government examined alleged Israeli attacks on civilians, aid workers and humanitarian sites as it considered whether Israel was complying with international law. The documents informed decisions on whether Britain could legally continue licensing arms exports to Israel during its war on Gaza.
The investigation found that officials examined hundreds of graphic videos and reports documenting civilian deaths, but the government concluded in the overwhelming majority of cases that there was insufficient information to determine that Israel had breached international humanitarian law, because Israel itself had not provided “sufficient evidence” on incidents examined.
Ramita Navai, the reporter and a producer on the investigation, told The New Arab: “Something has gone deeply wrong with the way both the Conservative and Labour governments have dealt with allegations of and evidence for Israeli war crimes.” “The apparent bias towards Israel means our government may have breached international law,” she said, adding, “Our institutions should never be bent for any ally, and there needs to be accountability, especially when it is about genocide.”
Legal experts interviewed by Dispatches questioned the methodology behind the assessments, saying the process made it extremely difficult to reach a finding against Israel when the Israeli military did not provide sufficient information about its targets or military objectives.
Professor William Schabas, an expert in international human rights and criminal law who reviewed the assessments, said the methodology appeared to be structured in a way that produced findings that violations had not taken place.