THE Labour Government has refused to say if UK-made parts for F-35 fighter jets have been used in the Israeli bombing of Gaza since March 18, which broke the ceasefire agreement.
Labour ministers also refused to reveal the last time an Israeli military aircraft was allowed to use an RAF base in the UK.
But the UK Government did reveal that it had hosted nine Israeli military personnel on February 5 to brief them on “HR and people issues”.
The news all comes from a series of written answers to questions from MPs, all of which were published on Tuesday as the Westminster parliament went into recess.
Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman had asked the Ministry of Defence for details on when “an Israeli Air Force aircraft last landed at an RAF station in the UK”, but was rebuffed.
Defence minister Luke Pollard said the Labour Government would “neither confirm, deny, nor comment on any foreign nations’ military aircraft movement or operations within UK airspace or UK overseas bases, whether they may or may not have happened”.
Declassified UK reported that “at least three Israeli transport flights” had used the RAF’s main operations base, Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, in October and November last year.
Elsewhere, suspended Labour MP Andrew Gwynne was told that the UK Government estimated that “at least 400 people were killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight on 18 March”, based on figures from Gaza’s health ministry.
“We have made clear that the UK strongly opposes Israel's resumption of hostilities in Gaza,” he added.
Two further MPs – independent Ayoub Khan the Greens’ Ellie Chowns – asked respectively whether the Labour Government was aware of UK-made F-35 parts being used in the strikes on March 18 or since, and whether they would have talks with their Israeli counterparts about the issue.
Falconer largely avoided both questions, issuing the same response twice.
He said: “The UK's robust export licensing criteria states that the Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
“In September 2024, following an IHL review, we have suspended certain export licences to Israel where we have assessed there is a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL.
“The suspension of relevant export licences for Israel will be kept under review and we hope to see evidence of sustained improvements that address concerns relating to IHL. We would not comment on speculation about future export licencing decisions.”
Labour has allowed the export of F-35 parts regardless of the fact that they have been documented as being used by Israel in Gaza. The UN said last year that international laws governing war have been "consistently violated in Israel’s bombing campaign".
In September, Labour blocked only around 30 out of 350 weapon export licences to the country.
Declassified UK reported that RAF planes had flown alongside Israeli jets in an exercise on March 4 – two weeks before Israel resumed bombing of Gaza.
However, the British air force deliberately did not mention Israel’s participation in the manoeuvre in its press release.
Elsewhere, Leishman also asked for what purpose an Israeli airforce delegation had visited the UK on February 5 – which was revealed in a previous parliamentary question.
He was told: “The Israeli Air Force delegation, led by their Head of Personnel Division, visited Ministry of Defence Main Building to meet and receive a briefing from the Defence Human Resources Transformation Team, as part of their visit to the UK focusing on HR and People issues.”
Israeli has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 and is credibly accused of committing genocide in Gaza.
The country, whose prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, has also breached international law with its settlements of the Palestinian West Bank – which are only escalating.
Netanyahu visited US president Donald Trump in the White House earlier this week, where the pair openly spoke about plans for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza – a clear war crime.
Labour Friends of Israel, which counts some top Labour ministers among its supporters, last week called the ICC warrant against Netanyahu “dubious”. The Labour Government remained silent.
