British Diplomat Resigns Over UK Arms Sales to Israel

A British Foreign Office official who worked on counter-terrorism has resigned in protest over arms sales to Israel. He said the British government “may be complicit in war crimes”.

His resignation is trending on the social media with commentary.

Mark Smith, who worked at the British Embassy in Dublin, wrote to colleagues on Friday that he had raised concerns “at every level” of the Foreign Office but to no avail.

Smith in his letter of resignation said he had previously worked on evaluating arms export licensing in the Middle East for the government, and that his colleagues “every day” were seeing “clear and indisputable examples” of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law by Israel in Gaza.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment on individual cases, but said the government was committed to upholding international law according to JO24.

One blogger states: “We wait with bated breath for this extremely serious matter to be covered by all of the mainstream media and for government ministers to be rigorously questioned.”

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Gaza in Starvation Mode Thanks to Israel

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) sounded the alarm on Saturday over a rapidly escalating humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.

“All basic supplies are running out in Gaza. It means babies, children are going to bed hungry,” Juliette Touma, the agency’s director of communications, said in a statement.

“Six weeks into the Israeli-imposed siege blocking the entry of aid and commercial supplies, food stocks are nearly gone, bakeries closed, and hunger is spreading,” the agency also noted.

The UNRWA emphasized that “immediate action is needed to prevent a deepening humanitarian crisis.”

The Israeli army renewed a deadly assault on Gaza on March 18, shattering the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

More than 50,900 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

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