The Hague, Netherlands:

The Netherlands must stop supplying spare parts to Israel’s F-35 fighter jets used in the Gaza Strip after a Dutch court on Monday upheld an appeal by a human rights group.

The groups argued that supplying the parts caused Israel to violate international law in its war with Hamas.

“The Court orders the State to cease the physical export and transit of all F-35 parts and components with a final destination in Israel within seven days of service of this judgment,” the ruling said.

U.S.-owned F-35 parts are stored in a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped through existing export agreements to multiple partners, including Israel.

“By doing so, the Netherlands is exacerbating serious violations of humanitarian laws of war in the Gaza Strip,” the rights group argued.

In December, the Hague District Court said that supplying parts was primarily a political decision and that judges should not interfere.

The court ruled at the time: “The considerations made by the minister were largely of a political and policy nature and the judge should have given the minister a wide latitude.”

Dutch authorities said it was unclear whether they had the authority to intervene in the deliveries, which are part of a U.S.-run business that supplies parts to all F-35 partners.

Government lawyers also argued that if the Dutch did not supply parts from Dutch warehouses, Israel could easily source them elsewhere.

The war was launched in response to an unprecedented attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7.

The attacks killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.

Hamas also held about 250 hostages, according to AFP statistics based on official Israeli data. Israel says about 130 people remain in Gaza, but 29 are believed to have died.

Israel has responded with a relentless offensive into Gaza that the Hamas-controlled health ministry said had killed at least 28,340 people, mostly women and children, as of Monday.

International law experts told AFP that human rights violations were likely committed on both sides of the conflict.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague, which adjudicates disputes between states, said Israel must do everything possible to prevent genocide in Gaza.

PAX Netherlands, one of the rights groups involved in the appeal, said the ruling “increases our confidence that the case will be decided positively”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)