UK court reviews legality of F-35 arms exports to Israel amid Gaza genocide

A four-day judicial review has begun at the UK High Court to examine whether the government acted unlawfully in continuing to export arms, including key F-35 fighter jet components, to Israel despite mounting allegations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza and warnings over complicity in genocide.

The organisations argue that the UK is obligated under both domestic and international law to halt these transfers.

They challenge a government decision to exempt F-35 parts from a wider suspension of arms exports to Israel issued in September 2024, following an internal risk assessment that concluded Israel was violating international humanitarian law.

That exemption, they say, has allowed UK-made components, such as laser targeting systems, to continue flowing into Israel via international supply chains under the multinational F-35 programme.

While other exports were halted, the F-35 exception remains in place, despite an International Court of Justice ruling that found a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Commenting on the first day of the hearing, Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, accused the British government of fundamentally failing to meet its legal obligations under the Genocide Convention by continuing to authorise arms exports to Israel.

"Under the Genocide Convention, the UK has a clear legal obligation to do everything within its power to prevent genocide," Deshmukh told The New Arab. "Yet the UK government continues to authorise the export of military equipment to Israel, despite all the evidence that genocide is being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This is a fundamental failure by the UK to fulfil its obligations."

He described the scale of destruction in Gaza as both deliberate and visible to the entire world.

"What is unfolding in Gaza is not hidden – it is being broadcast to the world in real time," Deshmukh said. "Entire Palestinian families are being wiped out in their homes. Civilians are being targeted in what should be safe spaces."

He said the UK was ignoring overwhelming evidence of genocide and called for an immediate end to military transfers. "The time for equivocation is over," he warned.

"Anything less makes a mockery of the UK’s stated commitment to human rights, the rule of law, and the principles of the Genocide Convention."

'Fuelling atrocities'

According to Al-Haq and GLAN, F-35s have been directly implicated in airstrikes on so-called "safe zones", including a July 2024 attack on Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis that killed 90 Palestinians.

The jets were also identified in a deadly Israeli assault on Gaza on 18 March 2025, after a declared ceasefire, which left 436 Palestinians dead, including 183 children.

"By creating exceptions to ensure the flow of weapons, the UK government is fuelling atrocities and flouting both domestic and international law," said GLAN Director Gearoid Ó Cuinn. "This case is about restoring the rule of law and making clear that complicity has consequences."

Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe, a legal officer at GLAN, said the F-35s in question were dropping multi-ton bombs on Gaza, which UN Secretary-General António Guterres described as a "graveyard for children".

"These jets don’t just bomb - they enforce siege, assist ground troops, and have helped starve Gaza’s population under an ongoing blockade."

Al-Haq's director, Shawan Jabarin, accused the UK of "full complicity" in what he described as Israel's campaign to forcibly displace Gaza's population and annex Palestinian land. "This is not just a violation of law - it is genocide," he said.

Court filings show the UK government has admitted that its F-35 transfers may violate its own export control laws, which prohibit arms sales when there is a "clear risk" they could be used in serious breaches of international humanitarian law.

As the hearing got underway, pro-Palestine activists staged a high-profile protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice, where actors Juliet Stevenson and Khalid Abdalla joined a rally in support of the legal challenge.

Early on Tuesday, campaigners unfurled an 80-foot banner reading "Stop Arming Israel" from Waterloo Bridge, within sight of the morning rush-hour commuters.

"How many more Palestinians will Britain help Israel to slaughter before we say enough is enough?" said Leila Malik from London for a Free Palestine, which helped organise the protest.

"Whatever the outcome in the courts, the will of the British people is clear - we want an end to Israel’s impunity and to our complicity in genocide. That starts by implementing a two-way arms embargo now."

The government's lawyers argue, however, that maintaining the global F-35 supply chain is a "national security priority" and that the decision lies with the executive, not the courts. They also maintain that parts are not sent directly to Israel.

Defence Secretary John Healey warned that suspending F-35 components could erode the UK's credibility within NATO and damage ties with the United States.

The UK is only one of several international partners in the F-35 programme, which is coordinated through a multilateral steering group requiring consensus for key decisions.

US-based Human Rights Watch has said that Britain has "failed in its duty to prevent genocide", noting that 41,000 Palestinians had been killed by September 2024, including 15,000 children, while nearly two million people had been forcibly displaced and large swathes of Gaza's housing destroyed.

A report published last week by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Progressive International, and Workers for a Free Palestine raised further questions on whether the UK had continued to send F-35 parts directly to Israel, in violation of its own declared suspension.

The report, based on Israeli import data, suggests that direct weapons transfers had in fact continued uninterrupted.

Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell called for a full investigation, warning that if Foreign Secretary David Lammy misled parliament about the nature of the transfers, it would be grounds for resignation under the ministerial code.

More than 40 MPs have joined calls for a formal inquiry into the UK’s arms exports to Israel.

The F-35 fighter jet, developed by Lockheed Martin, is considered the most advanced combat aircraft in the world. Key components, including targeting systems, are manufactured in the UK.

The aircraft has been a central part of Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza since the war began in October 2023, killing over 61,700 people, most of whom were women and children.