New UK companies joined Israel arms trade during Gaza genocide, data shows

Arms export figures from January to March 2026 show that the UK government and UK arms companies remain deeply complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Around £5.3m of single licences were approved in this time period. These were for components for military aircraft head-up/down displays, components for military electronic equipment, components for military radars and components for surface-to-air missiles and munitions/ordnance detection/disposal equipment.

Freedom of Information requests made by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) also reveal that during 2025 a total of 68 companies applied for export licences to Israel. This included 18 new companies not previously recorded as having applied for export licences to Israel in available data. In 2025, the UK licensed £30m of military equipment to Israel in 20 single licences. There were a further six open licenses.

The majority of these licences – £4.9m in the first three months of 2026 and £19.5m in 2025 – were for incorporation licences. These are military components that are exported to Israel and then, in theory, re-exported to a third country as part of a larger system. However, due to the lack of transparency and accountability in the UK arms licensing system, these components are not tracked, and it is not known whether these components are in fact re-exported or used in military equipment used by Israel.

However, even if Israel is using these components in accordance with the incorporation licence, these exports are directly benefiting the Israeli government and its arms companies, facilitating and paying for its genocide in Gaza and its violent occupation and war crimes in the West Bank. 

Israel’s arms industry is booming. In 2025, Israeli arms sales totalled $19.2bn, breaking records for the fifth consecutive year. Given several of Israel’s largest arms companies are state owned, this is revenue that is going directly to the Israeli government. For example, in 2025, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) paid the state nearly $700m in cumulative dividends, including payments owed from previous years. During the DSEI arms fair in London in 2025, IAI advertised equipment used to kill, injure and displace Palestinians in Gaza to a global audience.

CAAT’s media coordinator, Emily Apple, said: “If Andy Burnham wants to show that he’s serious about taking action against Israel’s genocide and brutal illegal occupation, then there is only one option – a full two-way arms embargo. Anything less than this leaves the UK complicit in some of the most horrific atrocities imaginable.

“Unfortunately, these figures show that not only is it business as usual for UK arms companies to facilitate Israel’s genocide, 18 new companies have decided the middle of a genocide is the right time to start exporting military equipment to Israel.

“CAAT is naming and shaming these companies. We hope that the new Labour government will finally take the action needed to end these sales. However, if they fail to do this, as we’ve seen up and down the country since October 2023, local communities will take action to say they stand with Palestinian people and will say no to the genocide profiteers on their doorsteps.”

Click here to find out more about the work of the Campaign Against Arms Trade.