Occupied Palestinian Territories and arms exports to Israel

Motion Text

That this House notes with deep concern the number of lives lost in the Israel-Gaza conflict; recognises tensions involving other actors in the wider region; expresses fear for those remaining hostages in Gaza, and for the hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians who do not share Hamas’ objectives and who need humanitarian aid urgently; reaffirms the belief that we need movement to a political solution that guarantees security for Palestinians and Israelis; further notes with concern possible breaches of International Humanitarian Law by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; condemns a failure by all sides to use distinction between combatants and civilians; expresses its concern that UK arms supplied to Israel may have been used to commit breaches of International Humanitarian Law; resolves to improve parliamentary scrutiny of the UK’s control of arms exports; urges the UK Government to introduce a presumption of denial for arms exports to governments listed as human rights priorities in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s annual human rights report; further recognises that the Israeli Government, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are listed within the Occupied Palestinian Territories section of the 2022 FCDO human rights report; calls on the UK Government to use all political and diplomatic powers to halt arms supplied to Hamas from Iran and other actors that are hostile to Israel; and condemns the arming of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah by Iran and other actors that are hostile to Israel.