Dutch court halts exports of fighter jet parts to Israel due to risk of war crimes in Gaza

The Hague, Netherlands - Following a court judgement, the Netherlands is no longer allowed to export spare parts for the F-35 fighter aircraft to Israel.

A Dutch court in The Hague ordered the Netherlands to stop sending F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel due to the risk of war crimes being committed in Gaza.
A Dutch court in The Hague ordered the Netherlands to stop sending F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel due to the risk of war crimes being committed in Gaza.  © REUTERS

A court in The Hague upheld a complaint by human rights and peace organizations on Monday.

There is a great risk that Israel is violating the humanitarian law of war with its airstrikes on the Gaza, the court ruled.

"Israel shows too little consideration for the consequences for the civilian population in its attacks," it stated.

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The court ordered the state to stop exporting the spare parts to Israel within the next seven days, subject to an appeal. However, exports of the spare parts will be suspended until a final judgement is reached, the Ministry of Foreign Trade announced.

The European spare parts warehouse of the US manufacturer of the F-35 fighter jets is located at an airbase in the south of the country, and Israel is also supplied from here.

The organizations Oxfam Novib, Pax Netherlands, and The Rights Forum had sued the state, pointing to possible genocide and a catalog of war crimes by Israel. The Dutch state was partly responsible for the arms exports, they said.

The state's defender had invoked Israel's right to self-defense and said a violation of the law of war had not been proven, but as the death toll and damage in Gaza reach apocalyptic levels, that argument holds less and less water.

The UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, warned on Saturday that Israel was breaching provisional measures put in place by the International Court of Justice to prevent a potential genocide.

Cover photo: REUTERS

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