The UK Foreign Secretary has said he is “not really interested” in halting weapons shipments to Israel despite the United States warning that they will suspend their own transfers if Israel conducts an offensive in southern Gaza.
Speaking to BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, David Cameron said he, too, opposed Israel launching an attack in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, but added that he was against halting the UK’s weapons shipments.
He said such a move “would make Hamas stronger” and, additionally, make it harder to negotiate a ceasefire agreement that ensured all the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza return home.
“Just to simply announce today that we will change our approach on arms exports, it would make Hamas stronger and it would make a hostage deal less likely,” he said, adding that he was “not really interested in message sending” through political moves like ending weapons sales.
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden suggested he would suspend additional shipments of weapons to Israel if they carried out an attack in Rafah.
But Lord Cameron argued the US “is in a totally different position” to the UK, since the US supplies around 68 per cent of Israel’s foreign-source weapons whereas the UK shipments amount to just one per cent.