A London court rejected a request to stop arms exports to Israel

In January, a coalition of rights groups applied to the High Court to speed up a judicial review of the UK government’s decision to continue selling military parts and weapons to Israel.

Britain’s strategic licensing criteria state that weapons should not be exported if there is a clear risk that they might be used to violate international humanitarian law.

The plaintiffs, led by the Palestinian human rights group al-Haq, including the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), argued in court that the government had flouted its own rules during the Gaza conflict.

But the court decided once morest the measure, lawyers told AFP in a statement on Tuesday, adding that they would appeal the decision.

Pro-Palestinian groups have launched several court cases to stop arms exports to Israel amid rising casualties in the Gaza Strip.

In mid-February, the Hague Court of Appeal ruled that the Netherlands must stop supplying parts for the F-35 fighter jets used by Israel in the Gaza Strip. Rights groups said the supply of the parts contributed to Israel’s alleged violations of international law in its war with the Islamist group Hamas

The war in the Gaza Strip was sparked by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, which killed around 1,160 people in the Jewish state, mostly civilians, according to AFP news agency figures based on official figures.

After vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive that has killed at least 29,195 people, mostly women and children, in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run territory’s Health Ministry.

The militants also took regarding 250 hostages, and Israel says 130 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip, including at least 30 who are believed to have been killed.