Record UK Arms Shipments to Israel Raise Alarms as Gaza War Rages On

Britain’s Biggest Arms Shipment Yet, Landed in Israel During One of Its Bloodiest Wars

While the world continues to watch the devastation unfold in Gaza, a quiet trade route between London and Tel Aviv has reached an all-time high.

Exclusive customs data reveals that in June 2025, the UK exported roughly £400,000 (R9.2 million) worth of arms to Israel, the single largest monthly shipment since records began. The weapons were logged under a chillingly broad customs code covering “bombs, grenades, mines, missiles and similar munitions.”

In other words, the kind of hardware that explodes.

This surge in exports landed just weeks after a UN Commission of Inquiry accused Israel of committing four acts of genocide in Gaza, including deliberate killing and destruction of civilian life. The same commission urged nations to stop supplying weapons that could be used in such crimes.

Britain, it seems, went the other way.

Government Says: “We Don’t Sell Bombs to Gaza”, But Paperwork Tells a Murkier Story

Pressed for answers, the UK government insisted that its licensing process is strict and that no approved exports are intended for use in Gaza or the West Bank.

There’s just one problem: neither Israeli nor British customs data distinguishes between live ammunition, training rounds, sporting cartridges, or re-export stock. In other words, nobody at least officially knows where these munitions ultimately land.

An Israeli spokesperson declined to clarify further, citing tax confidentiality laws, but dismissed concerns by saying the categories “may include non-lethal or non-operational items.”

That’s a lot of trust to place in a warzone.

And It’s Not Just a One-Month Spike, More Weapons Followed

June wasn’t an outlier. By August 2025, another £150,000 (R3.48 million) in UK arms passed through Israeli ports, including 110,000 bullets, listed simply as “sporting ammunition.”
Whether those rounds are fired on a shooting range or at civilians is, once again, not specified.

South Africa Looks in the Mirror and Doesn’t Like the Reflection

This debate isn’t just raging in London. In South Africa, similar scrutiny has landed on our own arms industry, especially with Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) in the spotlight.

EFF representative Carl Niehaus has demanded a total ban on arms sales to conflict zones specifically naming Israel and Ukraine. He accuses RDM of using warehouses in Germany and Hungary to reroute South African-made shells back into warzones, exploiting loopholes in export control systems.

Niehaus’ harshest criticism? That South Africa’s arms oversight bodies are so underfunded and understaffed that enforcement is practically optional.

In 2023 alone, South African companies exported R3.3 billion worth of arms to countries that supply Israel, including Germany, which is now Israel’s second-largest arms provider after the United States.

The Big Question: Can a Country Call for Peace While Selling Weapons?

The UK insists its exports are “controlled.” Israel insists they’re “misinterpreted.” South Africa insists it’s “reviewing policies.”

Meanwhile, Gaza burns.

Whether you’re in London, Pretoria or Tel Aviv, the world is now asking the same thing:

If genocide is being investigated, shouldn’t arms sales pause, not accelerate?

Governments argue legality. Critics argue morality.

But history tends to remember who supplied whom.

And in June 2025, Britain and potentially South Africa, supplied weapons to a war many now call genocide.

The paperwork may be tidy.
The consequences rarely are.

{Source: IOL}

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