The move means London will lose access to a database of some 26,000 verified violations by West Jerusalem, the outlet has reported
The British Foreign Office has closed a special unit that had been keeping a record of breaches of international law by Israel in the Gaza Strip, The Guardian has reported.
The shutdown happened despite UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper saying in a speech earlier in April that support for international law is a “core British value” and that it would be the focus of the department under her leadership.
The termination of the operations of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) cell also means that funding will be cut for the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project run by the Center for Information Resilience (CIR), The Guardian said in an article on Thursday.
British officials have been warned that because of this, the Foreign Office will lose access to a database of 26,000 verified violations by Israel put together by the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project, the report read.
The database, which induces incidents that occurred after West Jerusalem began its attacks on Gaza in response to a deadly incursion by Hamas in October 2023, is believed to be the world’s largest repository of such information, the paper said. Among other things, it had been used by the authorities in London to decide if arms export control licenses to Israel should be suspended or not, it added.
The closure of the IHL appears to be driven by the UK cabinet’s decision to reduce the overseas aid budget to 0.3% of GDP, The Guardian noted.
The advocacy manager at Campaign Against Arms Trade, Katie Fallon, told the paper that the shutdown was aimed at making sure that the British government could “obscure unimaginable violations and crimes committed against the most vulnerable people in conflict and sustain arms sales at any cost.”
During the conflict in Gaza, the UK suspended around 30 of its 350 weapons export licenses to Israel, citing a “clear risk” of international law violations. However, Israel Tax Authority customs data last October suggested that West Jerusalem had imported almost £1 million ($1.3 million) worth of UK-made munitions in the first nine months of 2025, which was more than double the amount supplied in the previous three years.
Over 72,000 people have been killed and over 172,000 wounded by Israel’s airstrikes and ground campaign in Gaza so far, according to figures from the Palestinian health authorities.
