Call to suspend UK–Israel trade deal over death penalty

Leading humanitarian and human rights groups are today calling on the UK Government to suspend its trade agreement with Israel following its adoption, exactly one month ago, of a new death penalty law that they warn is “discriminatory by design”, and applicable in practice, primarily, if not exclusively, to Palestinians.

The legislation, passed by the Israeli parliament on 30 March 2026, imposes the death penalty within the military court system in the occupied Palestinian territory, with Israeli citizens and residents explicitly excluded. The organisations, which include Oxfam, ActionAid UK, Amos Trust, Council for Arab British Understanding (CAABU), Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), Human Rights Watch and War on Want, warn that these military courts, which have a conviction rate of approximately 96 per cent, lack the most basic due process and fair trial protections for Palestinians. Many prisoners are held unlawfully and are subject to inhumane conditions, starvation and torture as state policy.

In a joint open statement sent to the Foreign Secretary, the groups warn this is yet another “grave and dangerous escalation” of the Israeli government’s systematic assault on Palestinian life and rights, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territory, and urge the UK government to take immediate action, including calling for the suspension of the UK-Israel trade agreement.

The organisations have also raised the alarm on the potential implications for children, as the legislation does not include safeguards excluding children from its application. Israel is one of the few countries in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has highlighted Israeli authorities’ “repeated denial of its legal obligations” and “complete disregard of [the Committee’s] recommendations…in relation to the arrest and detention of Palestinian children”.

As humanitarian, human rights, and environmental justice organisations in the UK, working in and on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, the signatories urge the UK government to do everything in its power to push for the reversal of the law and for the State of Israel to comply with international law.

The groups are calling on the UK government to:

1. Suspend the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement by invoking Israel’s material breach of its human rights clause.
2. Urgently implement the ICJ’s July 2024 advisory opinion and end the UK’s complicity in the Israeli government’s unlawful occupation and violations of international law, including by banning trade with, and investment in, illegal settlements.
3. Actively support Palestinian and Israeli civil society organizations, whose monitoring, documentation, and advocacy are essential to the protection of human rights.

The organisations warn that there are already indications of preparations for implementing the law, including reports of logistical planning for executions and further legislative moves to expand the use of the death penalty.