Any state continuing to transfer military equipment violates international rules on arms trade and risks becoming complicit in violations of international humanitarian law – including war crimes – and a plausible genocide in Gaza.
Call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to stop all direct or indirect transfers of military equipment to Israel.
As Gaza faces a potential genocide and famine, states must stop fueling the crisis in Gaza and prevent further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life.
Israel’s military campaign has destroyed a substantial portion of Gaza’s homes, schools, hospitals, water infrastructure, shelters, and refugee camps.
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s relentless bombardment and at least 31 have starved to death, 28 of them children. Almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been displaced, many repeatedly. Over two million people in the occupied Gaza Strip remain at risk of genocide and famine. Nowhere is safe.
In January, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel is committing a potential genocide in Gaza. There is a clear risk that weapons and military equipment directly or indirectly exported to Israel will be used to commit serious crimes against civilians in Gaza. Any state continuing to transfer military equipment violates international rules on arms trade and risks becoming complicit in violations of international humanitarian law – including war crimes – and a plausible genocide.
In February, UN experts warned that any sale and supply of weapons to Israel that risk being used in Gaza would violate international humanitarian law and must be stopped immediately. In early April, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling on states to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.
Over 250 humanitarian and human rights organisations have called on states to stop arms transfers to Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
Although Canada reportedly stopped issuing new permits for military exports to Israel as of January 8, 2024, transfers continue on existing permits. Between October 7 and December 6, 2023, $28.5 million of new military exports to Israel were approved – more than the value all export permits issued in 2022. Canadian parts, components and other military materials are also exported to the USA, which in turn are integrated into US military equipment such as F-35 aircraft supplied to the Israel Defense Force.
Learn More
For additional actions and an overview of the current crisis and Amnesty’s work on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, visit the toolkit on our website.
PHOTO CREDT An Israeli army soldier adjusts the tip to a 155mm artillery shell near a self-propelled howitzer deployed at a position near the border with Lebanon in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel on October 18, 2023. Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images.
