The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq originally brought the challenge against all weapons exports to Israel for use in Gaza.

However, following a partial suspension of arms exports licenses in September 2024, the case now focuses on the decision to exempt some exports for F-35 fighter jet components from the September suspension.

The government’s own assessment is that there is a “clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international law”, but parts are still being supplied to Israel indirectly through a global supply chain.

GLAN and Al-Haq have also suggested that selling arms to Israel could have domestic criminal consequences under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 or the International Criminal Court Act 2001.

Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have both intervened in the case, providing what they say is evidence of the Israeli authorities’ lack of commitment to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law and numerous examples of Israeli breaches of international humanitarian law.

Alongside today’s hearing, GLAN and Al-Haq have sent the government a pre-action protocol (PAP) letter for judicial review based on new elements of the case.

These new elements include ongoing atrocities in northern Gaza, comments by Foreign Secretary David Lammy on the definition of genocide, and the government’s failure to set out its “red lines” on arms exports.