UK could halt arms sales to Israel next week, says head of foreign affairs committee 

The UK could halt arms sales to Israel next week, the head of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee has said, amid reports David Cameron, the foreign secretary, warned Israel that sales will stop if detained Palestinian suspects are denied access to the Red Cross.

Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP who chairs the influential parliamentary committee, told LBC Radio on Thursday evening she would "be very surprised" if the government did not make a public determination within the week of Israel's commitment to international humanitarian law.

"If that assessment has changed - the last one was in December - then there would be a duty upon the government to suspend arms exports because it would know that there was a risk that they weren’t being used appropriately," Kearns said.

UK government is obligated to suspend licences for arms exports if it determines that there is a clear risk that British weapons could be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law.

Israeli news outlet Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Thursday that the UK government had conditioned the continuation of UK arms sales on imprisoned Palestinians suspected of being involved in the 7 October receiving visits from diplomats or the Red Cross.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not deny the report when asked about it on Friday.

Read more: UK could halt arms sales to Israel next week, says head of foreign affairs committee