Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of suspending all arms sales to Israel.

On day one in office, the Foreign Secretary commissioned a thorough review into Israel's compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL), given the grave concerns about the conduct and consequences of the war in Gaza for civilians. The Strategic Export Licensing Criteria state that the Government will not issue or maintain export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law. Given the conclusions of the review, on 2 September the Government suspended export licences to Israel, effectively covering all arms exports for use in the current conflict in Gaza, exempting components for F-35 aircraft which, for reasons outlined in the Foreign Secretary's Statement and the Business and Trade Secretary's Written Ministerial Statement, have been excluded from the suspension.