Halting arms exports to Israel is 含羞草研究社渘ot a wise path含羞草研究社 and would only strengthen Hamas, Britain含羞草研究社檚 foreign secretary said Sunday.
Asked whether the U.K. would follow the U.S. in threatening to cut the supply of offensive weapons to Israel if it carried out an attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the two countries cannot be compared because unlike the U.S., Britain supplies a very small amount of Israel含羞草研究社檚 weapons.
含羞草研究社淭he U.K. provides less than 1% of Israel含羞草研究社檚 weapons and it含羞草研究社檚 not a state supplier,含羞草研究社 Cameron told the BBC on Sunday. 含羞草研究社淲e have a licensing system and those licences can be closed if it含羞草研究社檚 judged there含羞草研究社檚 a serious risk of a serious international human rights violation.含羞草研究社
U.S. President Joe Biden has said that his government will stop supplying weapons and artillery to Israel if its forces launch an all-out assault on Rafah, the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza.
Britain含羞草研究社檚 opposition Labour Party and human rights groups argue that the U.K. should follow a similar position and stop the sale of British-made weapons or components in a Rafah offensive.
The U.S. government said Friday that Israel含羞草研究社檚 use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law. But it added that wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
Cameron also said that putting British boots on the ground in Gaza as part of international efforts to deliver aid would be 含羞草研究社渁 risk that we shouldn含羞草研究社檛 take.含羞草研究社
His comments came after reports that U.K. authorities were considering deploying troops to land humanitarian supplies from a temporary pier being built by the U.S. military.
Cameron said that his government含羞草研究社檚 view was that 含羞草研究社渁ctually putting British boots on to the beach was not a good move.含羞草研究社 He said that instead, the aid delivery will likely be carried out by a contractor.
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The Associated Press