UNIONS were urged to block the export of weapons to Israel at the annual meeting of the Yorkshire & Humber region of the TUC in Leeds on Saturday.

The meeting backed a motion by South Yorkshire County Association of Trade Union Councils (SYCATUC) calling on the regional TUC to affiliate to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

It also pledged to back “any and all attempts by workers and trade unions to organise to prevent the manufacture and transportation of arms to Israel.”

Holly Johnston of SYCATUC told the conference that since the motion was drawn up, the death toll in Gaza had risen to 31,232.

“The number of children reported killed in just over four months is higher than in four years of wars around the world combined,” she said.

“This morning at least 36 people were killed in a house in central Gaza. Most were children, and there were pregnant women.”

She said unions should support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, support protests and rallies and call for an immediate ceasefire. But she said workers should go further by taking action “to prevent the export of arms to Israel, as others have done.”