THE British government must end arms sales to Israel in response to the state’s latest deadly onslaught on the Gaza strip, campaigners have urged. 

The Tory government has licensed at least £442 million worth of arms to Israeli forces since 2015, including bombs, drones, aircraft and ammunition, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT). 

The campaign group says that the government must immediately halt arms sales to Israel after its forces massacred 44 Palestinians, including 15 children, in a three-day attack on Gaza. 

Israeli forces began bombing the besieged population last Friday. Funerals were held in the strip earlier this week following a temporary truce between the Israeli government and Islamic Jihad. 

British arms sales to Israel have continued unabated despite concerns that British-made weaponry has been used by Israeli forces during its repeated and brutal attacks on Gaza, one of the most densely populated regions in the world. 

Last year, 78 MPs called for an investigation into whether the Israeli army used British-made arms and components to pummel the strip in May 2021, when 256 Palestinians, including 66 children were killed. 

And in 2014, a review by the government itself identified 12 licences which were likely to have been used in the bombardment of Gaza that year. 

Katie Fallon of CAAT said: “British-made arms have been used against Palestinians before, but that has done nothing to halt the flow of weapons. 

“There must be a suspension of arms sales, and a full review into whether British weapons have been used and if they are implicated in possible war crimes. 

“These arms sales do not just provide military support, they also send a clear sign of political support for the occupation and blockade and the violence that is being inflicted.”