Lord Cameron: Assessment of Israel arms sales 'ongoing'

Lord Cameron would not give an exact date for when the next announcement on arms sales would be made, ITV News Political Correspondent Tom Sheldrick reports

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has said there is an "ongoing process" to assess the sale of UK weapons to Israel.

He has so far rejected calls to pause arms sales, saying on Sunday that it is "not a wise path", despite the US warning that an escalation of operations in Rafah could cause for it to suspend its arms deals with Israel.

"We're a completely different situation to the United States, they are a massive bulk state supplier of weapons to Israel. The UK doesn't supply state-backed weapons to Israel," Lord Cameron told ITV News on Sunday.

"Overall we're responsible for about less than 1% of [Israel's] imports.

"We have a very rigorous legal process we go through and that is on an ongoing basis, and obviously we look at the question, crucially, of whether there's a serious risk that anything exported from Britain would lead to a serious human rights violation in Israel."

Lord Cameron last made an announcement on whether British-supplied weapons have been used in breach of international law in a statement in the US on 9 April.

He said that was the last time the process was completed and a report was produced, but that it is a rolling process and that further announcements would be made as more information becomes available.

Lord Cameron would not give an exact date, but said it would be "within the coming weeks".

"We don't publish legal advice to government. The only time a summary is published is when British troops are being sent into battle," he said.

"The role of government is to act in accordance with that advice."

US President Joe Biden warned on Thursday that the US would stop supplying arms to Israel if the country launched a major offensive in Rafah, but Lord Cameron did not specify whether the UK would follow suit.

Have you heard our new podcast Talking Politics? Every week Tom, Robert and Anushka dig into the biggest issues dominating the political agenda…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the US by saying that his country can "stand alone" should the US withdraw support.

"If we need to ... we will stand alone. I have said that if necessary we will fight with our fingernails," he said on Thursday.

President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to go ahead with such an operation over fears it would exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli officials have issued new evacuation orders in Gaza's southern city of Rafah over the last couple of days, telling more than 110,000 people to flee north.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said that some 300,000 people have been affected by evacuation orders in Rafah and Jabaliya, but the numbers are likely higher in the densely populated areas.

More than 1.4 million Palestinians - half of Gaza’s population - have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel’s offensives elsewhere.

Israel has portrayed the southern Gaza city of Rafah as Hamas' last stronghold, saying it must invade in order to succeed in its goals of dismantling the group and returning scores of hostages.

Israeli forces were fighting across Gaza on Sunday, including in parts in the north which the military claimed to have clear of Hamas fighters months ago. Hamas militants had reportedly exploited a security vacuum in order to regroup in the area.

Israeli Defence Forces spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said Israel was “listening attentively to our allies”.

He told Times Radio the operations in Gaza’s Jabalia and Zeytun on Sunday were in “areas where we’ve identified that Hamas is trying to regroup and reorganise and conduct further offensives against Israel”.

“That’s something we can’t allow.

“And the second component of course is the limited-in-scope operations that we’re currently conducting in the eastern parts of Rafah.”

More than 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the region.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…