UK suspends 30 arms licences to Israel; Netanyahu apologises to bereaved families

After six Israeli hostages were found shot dead in a Gaza tunnel at the weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did something he hadn’t done in 11 months of war — he apologised to the bereaved families. The gesture was among signs the discovery may prove to be a turning point in Israel’s long-running conflict with Hamas.

Israelis took part in labour strikes and protests nationwide, their strongest push yet to force Netanyahu’s government to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas and secure the release of hostages in Gaza.

UK suspends 30 arms licences to Israel

The UK would suspend about 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel after concluding the use of British components in Gaza risked violating international humanitarian law, said Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Licences covering components used in F-16 fighter aircraft, helicopters, drones and naval systems, as well as items which facilitate ground targeting were among those suspended, Lammy told the House of Commons on Monday.

The decision follows a review of the UK arms exports regime, which grants permits to defence firms making military equipment for Israel. The UK government does not directly send Israel weapons, unlike the US.

“The assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” said Lammy.

He said the suspension did not amount to an arms embargo and would not have a material impact on Israel’s security. He said the government had not and could not arbitrate on whether or not Israel had breached international humanitarian law.

While the UK provides less than 1% of Israel’s weapons and is not a state supplier, the Labour government — and the Conservative one before it — have come under increasing pressure to review arms exports.

Angered by hostage deaths, Israelis push Netanyahu’s red lines

After six Israeli hostages were found shot dead in a Gaza tunnel at the weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did something he hadn’t done in 11 months of war: he apologised to the bereaved families.

“I want to tell you how sorry I am and ask for forgiveness for not being able to bring Sasha back alive,” he told the parents of Alexander Lobanov in the first of a series of such phone calls.

The gesture was among signs the discovery may prove to be a turning point in Israel’s long-running conflict with Hamas, after several months of inconclusive ceasefire negotiations. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested on Sunday to demand a truce with the Iran-backed group, while the main trade union called a strike that temporarily shut down banks, shopping malls and even the main airport on Monday morning.

“Netanyahu realised that a line had been crossed,” wrote commentator Yoav Limor in the Israel Hayom newspaper, a reference to the sense among many Israelis that the government didn’t do enough to save the hostages. “As of yesterday, Israel is not the same country.”

What that means for Netanyahu’s stance on the war remains to be seen.

What that means for Netanyahu’s stance on the war remains to be seen. On Monday night, he gave a defiant press conference, saying Israel would not give up control of the border area between Gaza and Egypt, the so-called Philadelphi corridor, as Hamas has demanded.

Israel’s control of the area was key to “defeating Hamas, returning hostages and ensuring Gaza doesn’t pose a threat in the future,” he said. He added, “If we leave, we won’t go back”, citing “immense international pressure” that would be exerted on Israel.

Through that corridor, he said, Hamas had imported tonnes of arms that it has used against Israel. That pathway must be permanently controlled by Israel, he said.

Many argue US President Joe Biden’s administration should use the moment to press both Israel and Hamas to finally reach an agreement. The Washington Post reported on Monday that the US, alongside other international brokers Qatar and Egypt, was preparing a “take-it-or-leave-it” final deal.

“We’re very close” to tabling a proposal, Biden told reporters at the White House on Monday. Asked whether Netanyahu was doing enough to secure the hostages, he answered simply “No.”

Israel has waged its campaign in Gaza ever since thousands of Hamas operatives swarmed into the south of the country on 7 October, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250. In that time the government has pursued two often contradictory goals: destroy the group’s military and political infrastructure and bring the hostages back alive.

For the duration of the conflict — in which more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza — Israel assumed Hamas was protecting hostages to trade for concessions, such as the freeing of Palestinian prisoners. The discovery of the dead abductees casts doubt on that thesis.

“What we see in Hamas now, after 11 months of war, is a collapse of the command structure,” said Uzi Rabi, a senior researcher on Palestinian issues at Tel Aviv University. “This means that Israel’s policy of increased military pressure, which you could argue was working, may no longer serve the purpose. It’s a double-edged sword, and Netanyahu may have to shift policy.”

Hostages would “go back to their families in coffins” if Netanyahu kept insisting on securing their release through military pressure, Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’ armed wing, said on his Telegram channel.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has been arguing that the country should accept a ceasefire proposal put forward by the US. First made public by Biden at the end of May, it calls for a three-stage process starting with the freeing of hostages in exchange for a withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Netanyahu’s position has moved around. Most recently, he’s come down on the side of his right-wing coalition partners, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who say Israel mustn’t stop fighting Hamas even for a day until total victory is achieved. The release of hostages, they say, will follow.

Israeli public opinion, once on their side, has shifted. A monthly poll asking whether a hostage deal should be prioritised over destroying Hamas showed 72% in favour in July, up from 67% in June and 46% in May.

Israeli media reports on the ceasefire negotiations showed that some of those found dead were on the list of hostages due to be exchanged. That made their deaths more painful for families and friends, and a key element of Sunday’s protests was that Israel failed them.

“Our Hands Aren’t Clean of Their Blood,” ran a front-page headline in the centrist Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday.

Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition partners retain a degree of support, including among a small number of families of those still held in Gaza. They are members of a group called the Tikva Forum, which opposes compromise with Hamas and called on Israelis not to join demonstrations or strikes.

Israelis go on day-long strike as anger over hostages builds

Israelis took part in labour strikes and protests nationwide, their strongest push yet to force Netanyahu’s government to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas and secure the release of hostages in Gaza.

Some civil servants at government ministries stayed away from offices or took to the streets. Many post offices and bank branches were closed, while Ben Gurion, the country’s main airport, suspended take-offs between 8am and 10am local time.

In a move led by a forum of Israel’s top 200 business leaders, a number of shopping malls closed, affecting outlets of international brands such as Inditex SA-owned Zara and Nike. Many hi-tech firms shut their offices, including Lemonade and Qumra Capital venture capital fund.

The strike was called by the Histadrut labour federation, though a court order ruled on Monday that it should end at 2.30pm.

Anger is rising among Israelis after the bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October were found in a tunnel in Gaza. They had been executed by their captors, according to Israel. Each was shot repeatedly from short range not long before being discovered, medical examiners said.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis demonstrated across the country on Sunday, the largest protests since the deadly invasion by Hamas militants that triggered the ongoing war nearly 11 months ago.

Critics accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the conflict — thereby reducing the chances of early elections that polling suggests he would lose — rather than prioritising the safe return of the roughly 100 remaining hostages still held in Gaza. Hostilities have spread to the West Bank, another Palestinian territory, and to neighbouring Lebanon, threatening to engulf the region in a wider war.

Netanyahu has defended his stance on a ceasefire as necessary to ensure Hamas isn’t able to rearm and has been steadfast in his ultimate aim of destroying the Iran-backed group. Should Hamas endure, government officials have warned, Israel’s enemies would be emboldened and more hostage-taking could take place in the future.

Netanyahu has “been driven primarily by a desire to retain power with a narrow, very radical messianic coalition in the Israeli government”, said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 36-year-old Israeli-American.

Despite the public pressure, there is no sign Netanyahu is prepared to shift course.

“Those who murder hostages do not want a deal,” he said in a statement on Sunday, warning Hamas: “We will pursue you, we will find you and we will settle accounts with you.”

Israel’s economy has struggled under the weight of war-related policies, growing by 2% last year, almost half the rate that the finance ministry expected before the outbreak of the conflict. The shekel weakened by 0.7% against the dollar on Monday, though the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange traded slightly higher.

Hamas said the hostages found at the weekend were killed by Israeli bombs. DM

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