Israeli soldiers prepare ammunition at a staging area near Gaza<\/p>\n
Published in partnership with Irish investigative news site <\/em>The Ditch<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n A British company has sent over 1,000 munitions containers to Israel amid the Gaza genocide, raising concerns about UK arms export controls.<\/p>\n The information is contained within shipping documents reviewed exclusively by Declassified<\/em> and The Ditch<\/em>.<\/p>\n The documents show how Permoid Industries, an engineering firm in Durham, has sent 16 shipments of \u201cstorage containers\u201d weighing over 100 tonnes to Elbit Systems in Israel since October 2023.<\/p>\n Permoid declined to comment but did not deny that the cases were designed to carry weapons. Its website says the firm produces<\/a> \u201ca wide range of ammunition containers\u201d, which are suited for \u201cbelted ammunition, cartridge, mortar and shell munitions\u201d including 155mm artillery shells.<\/p>\n Most of the shipments were sent to Elbit Systems Land in Ramat Hasharon near Tel Aviv, which produces<\/a> a range of armaments for the IDF such as 155mm and 122mm mortar shells.<\/p>\n Elbit Systems supplies<\/a> up to 85 percent of the Israel Defence Forces\u2019 (IDF) land-based military equipment and drones.<\/p>\n The revelation raises the prospect that Permoid\u2019s containers are being used to facilitate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, pointing to more serious loopholes in Britain\u2019s arms export regulations.<\/p>\n Declassified<\/em> has previously revealed that drone engines<\/a> and tripods<\/a> for mounting weapons have been exempted from UK trade sanctions on Israel.<\/p>\n Former British soldier Joe Glenton, who works for campaign group ForcesWatch<\/a>, told Declassified<\/em>: \u201cIn recent weeks we\u2019ve seen a major turn in the language used by the Labour government over Israel\u2019s assault on Gaza. The hard fact, however, remains that British firms are still provisioning a genocide.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately the rhetorical shift means absolutely nothing unless it is matched with an immediate and total ban on arms sales to Israel accompanied by a withering regime of sanctions\u201d.<\/p>\n