The military aid the UK sends to Israel has been under a growing spotlight ever since the war in Gaza began in October.
The UK is not the largest arms supplier to Israel – that’s the US, which accounts for slightly under 70% – but but it is still an important talking point, especially as more and more people want it to stop.
Israel’s recent attacks on Gaza’s southern city, Rafah, have sparked further international concerns, especially as 1.5 million people are sheltering there.
The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza says around 40,000 people have been killed already over the course of the war.
Israel says it is protecting itself against Hamas, the Palestinian militants who killed 1,200 people on Israeli soil and took around 240 people hostage last October.
So how has the UK been supporting its ally, Israel?
What weapons does the UK send to Israel?
In December, the defence secretary Grant Shapps has said the UK’s exports to Israel are “relatively small”.
In 2022, it worked out to £42m – that’s the last time the amount the UK sent to Israel was properly calculated, according to Sky News.
That works out to 0.02% of the annual imports of aid going to Israel, and 0.4% of the UK’s defence exports.
For comparison, the US is responsible for 68% of exports to Israel and Germany provides 28%.
Since 2008, the UK has licensed arms worth over £574m to Israel, according to government export data put together by Campaign Against Arms Trade.
That includes £185m military technology, £136m for aircrafts, helicopters and drones, and £30m in grenades, bombs and missiles.
Business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch decided not to suspend the current licences or stop granting them in December, but said the exports would be kept under “careful review”.
The UK has suspended arms to Israel twice over the last two decades – 2009 and 2014 – over its hostilities with Gaza, but is not suspending them right now.
Why does this matter?
A growing body of critics is calling for the UK to halt arms to Israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens, amid the ongoing bombardments and pressing famine.
While aid has been sent into the Palestinian territory through Rafah, Ereze, and Kerem Shalom, truck delivery numbers have dropped from 500 daily to183 (at the highest daily average) during the first weeks of April.
Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium Japan and Spain have all decided to withhold aid over concerns for Gaza.
The UK government has repeatedly said Israel has a right to defend itself within the bounds of international humanitarian law – which Israel claims to be doing.
But, South Africa has accused Israel of breaching international humanitarian law by committing genocide in Gaza at the international court of justice.
The case is yet to come to a conclusion.
It is also illegal under international law to send weapons to a country if those weapons are used to breach the law.
What does the US do?
The US has given hundreds of billions of dollars of aid to Israel over the decades – and that’s why there’s so much pressure on Joe Biden right now to stop sending arms.
Sky News reported last month that the US’s most recent package to Israel was valued at £3bn, including 2,300 bombs – but excluding the stockpiled weapons the US stores in Israel.
President Joe Biden has publicly admitted that Israel used US weapons to kill Palestinian civilians earlier this week.
He added that the US would withhold shipments of offensive weapons to Israel if a ground invasion into Rafah caused major harm to civilians.
