Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6280 on Gaza: Air Force, whether his Department used information from the Ministry of Defence on unarmed UK surveillance aircraft operations when making its International Humanitarian Law assessment on Israel, published on 2 September 2024.

We are unable to comment on the detail of intelligence matters, for operational security reasons. The government is clear on the fundamental importance of the international rule of law. The UK's robust export licensing criteria states that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Following our review into Israel's compliance with IHL in Gaza, this Government concluded that a clear risk does exist, and we have suspended export licences for such items that could be used in the current conflict in Gaza.