Days before three British aid workers were killed, parts of a stealth bomber fighter jet the US quietly sold to Israel were made in the UK. I can be revealed.

The Biden administration authorized last week Sale of 25 F-35A fighter jets to Israelraising further concerns about British involvement in arms exports to Israel.

The sale did not require congressional notification because Congress was notified of the intention to sell as early as 2008, and it would be several years before the aircraft were delivered to Israel.

According to the British company BAE Systems, which produces the rear fuselage for all F-35s, up to 15% of each F-35 used by Israel to bomb Gaza is manufactured by British industry.

Ties between British industry and Israel have come under increasing scrutiny after British aid workers were killed in Israeli air strikes earlier this week, taking the death toll in Gaza to nearly 33,000.

While F-35s were not involved in the attack, the Hermes 450 drone that reportedly killed the rescue crew was powered by an R902(W) Wankel engine manufactured by Bristol-based Elbit Drone Engines Limited The company manufactures in the UK, Sam Perlo-Freeman from the UK Campaign Against the Arms Trade told I.

A spokesman for British Elbit Systems said: I The company, its subsidiaries and joint ventures “are not participating in the Hermes 450 programme”.

The U.S. sale of the F35s coincides with an proposed $18 billion deal to deliver U.S.-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel.

The British government has previously denied providing “lethal or military equipment” to Israel since the October 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and triggered the war. Britain last week called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.

But a freedom of information request last year found that 79 UK-based companies supplied parts for the F-35 fighter jets, including manufacturers Lockheed Martin It is claimed that “the fingerprints of British ingenuity can be found on dozens of key components of the aircraft” before it was sold to Israel.

british company British Aerospace SystemsThe company that builds the rear fuselages for all F-35s says on its website that it has a “13-15% share of the work per aircraft” which is “underpinned by world-class British manufacturing”.

Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch I: “The British government must immediately suspend arms exports to Israel. Failure to do so risks participating in ongoing atrocities and breaching British law.

“It is unbelievable that the UK continues to suspend funding to UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency] Gaza was starving at the time but failed to suspend arms exports when it became clear that British military equipment was at risk of being used to commit serious violations. “

Israel claims that some staff of United Nations agencies that support Palestinian refugees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.

Labor MP John McDonnell told I: “The sale of weapons to Israel that could have been used to kill British citizens, as is the case with aid workers, must be condemned. Arms sales should be stopped immediately.”

In addition, according to activists, the United States has sent F-16 fighter jets to Israel since October 7, which also contained British-made parts before being used to bomb Gaza.

While British components are sold to Israel through the U.S. government, a British government license to sell weapons in Israel also remains open.

File from legal challenge A January investigation by Palestinian NGO Al-Haq into the High Court’s Commerce and Trade Division revealed 28 “existing licenses” and “28 pending applications” that the government determined were “most likely to be used by the IDF for offensive operations.” “. Gaza”.

“Priority” licenses include components such as: fighter aircraft; utility helicopters; armored personnel carriers; naval ships; radars; and targeting equipment and small arms ammunition.

Dearbhla Minogue, a lawyer representing Al-Haq against the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, tells us I: “British ministers continue to facilitate the transfer of fighter jets to Israel, putting themselves and their companies at serious risk of complicity in serious breaches of international law.

“The UK’s continued arms sales to Israel may breach the Genocide Convention, customary international law and the Arms Trade Treaty.”

RAF military aircraft have flown more than 100 times between Israel and an RAF base in Cyprus since the start of the war in Gaza, according to a flight tracking tool radar box.

Most of the aircraft flying between RAF bases and Israel are military transports, including A400Ms – according to Royal Air Force website Can “accommodate up to 116 fully equipped troops; vehicles; helicopters, including Chinooks [helicopter]”.

according to Airbus website, the A400M is also designed to “transport critical armed forces equipment.” In 2024, the U.S. Air Force also used the military base nine times.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has previously stated I The purpose of the flights is to “continue transporting materials needed to sustain our diplomatic mission to Tel Aviv,” before adding, “We cannot specify what these materials are.”

three former supreme court justices More than 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges have warned that the British government’s continued arming of Israel violates international law.

this The Hague Court of Appeal The Netherlands has been ordered to ban the export of F-35 parts and components, citing possible complicity with Israel’s current human rights abuses and violations of international law. Canada There is also a ban on arms exports to Israel.

A spokesman for the Department of Commerce and Trade said I: “We continually review recommendations regarding Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law and will act on that recommendation.

“All export license applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against strategic export license criteria.”