BRITISH firms have exported over 160,000 military items to Israel since October 2023, a new report revealed today.

Details of the shipments suggest Foreign Secretary David Lammy could have misled Parliament when he claimed exports were ”defensive in nature.”

Palestinian Youth Movement, Progressive International and Workers for a Free Palestine conducted the research using data from the Israeli tax authority.

There have been 14 shipments of military items since Israel intensified its attacks, the data revealed, including one containing 150,000 bullets.

The report said that most shipments took place after Britain implemented a partial arms exports ban last September, when government suspended 30 out of 350 licences after admitting there was a “clear risk” they could be used to violate international humanitarian law.

Alarmingly, the report found “no observable decrease” in the shipment of aircraft parts following the government’s partial suspension.

The report raises questions over whether Britain has continued to ship parts for the lethal F-35 fighter jet to Israel, despite the suspension banning direct exports.

Last October, Mr Lammy told Parliament that “much of what we send [to Israel] is defensive in nature. It is not what we describe routinely as arms."

On the day of the suspension, he said he “[does] not think anyone would suggest that we should not sell a helmet or goggles to one of our closest allies.”

But the report found that Britain sent 8,630 separate munitions since the suspension took effect.

The munitions were classified as “bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles and similar munitions of war and parts thereof – other.”

“It appears that Foreign Secretary David Lammy has misled Parliament and the public about arms shipments to Israel,” the report concludes.

Former shadow chancellor and Labour MP John McDonnell said: "If Parliament has been misled by the Foreign Secretary or any minister it is a resigning matter and, more importantly, it attracts potentially a charge of complicity in war crimes. 

“The government has shrouded its arms supplies to Israel in secrecy. 

“They must finally come clean in response to this extremely concerning evidence and halt all British arms exports to Israel to ensure no British-made weapons are used in Netanyahu’s new and terrifying plans to annex the Gaza Strip and ethnically cleanse the land.”

On Tuesday, the government will be in the High Court facing a challenge over the legality of its arms exports in a case brought by Global Legal Action Network and Palestinian rights group Al-Haq.

A spokesperson for Workers for a Free Palestine said: “These shipments must be stopped. 

“Over the past few weeks, we have seen workers in France and Morocco take action to halt the transfer of F-35 parts to Israel on Maersk ships. 

“Their brave actions serve as a reminder of the power we have as workers to intervene in the supply chain of genocide. 

“The ongoing British complicity outlined in these findings comes with an urgent duty to take action and enforce an arms embargo on Israel from below.”

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “This government has suspended relevant licences for the IDF that might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza.

“Of the remaining licences for Israel, the vast majority are not for the Israeli Defence Forces but are for civilian purposes or re-export, and therefore are not used in the war in Gaza. 

“The only exemption is the F-35 programme due to its strategic role in Nato and wider implications for international peace and security. 

”Any suggestion that the UK is licensing other weapons for use by Israel in the war in Gaza is misleading.”