LONDON: Civil servants in the UK have reportedly paused the processing of arms export licenses to Israel ahead of a wider government review.
The Department for Business and Trade is sending messages to exporters notifying them of the suspension, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
However, sources in the civil service said the change does not reflect a direct change in policy and may be part of a new administrative approach.
The wider government review into arms exports to Israel is underway but a completion date has yet to be announced.
It follows allegations that Western arms exports to the country may be in breach of humanitarian law as a result of Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The probe is complicated further by ministers’ desire to distinguish between offensive and defensive arms exports.
Any decision to officially suspend weapons exports must be legally sound and comply with existing arms export licensing laws, ministers have said privately, sources told The Guardian.
Between Oct. 7 last year and June 2024, the UK granted 108 weapons export licenses to Israel.
Twenty companies were issued standard individual export licenses to Israel from the same date to May, the charity Christian Aid revealed.
The organization’s head of Middle East policy, William Bell, said: “The only way to categorically ensure arms sold to Israel are not used in violation of human rights is with a black and white ban.
“That is what this new government should be ready to do. No ifs and buts. It is frankly reprehensible for any company to make a profit from this war.”
Despite the business department’s latest reported messaging to arms exporters, a spokesperson denied that a policy change had been enacted.
“There has been no change in our approach to export licences to Israel,” they said in a statement. “We continue to review export licence applications on a case by case basis against strategic export licensing criteria.”
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