British arms export licences to Israel are under growing scrutiny over claims that international law has been broken in the assault on Gaza, with a court set to rule on the divisive matter.

The contentious issue surfaced yesterday when an opposition Labour lawmaker accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of having “the blood of thousands of innocent people on his hands”, AFP reports.

Protesters this week confronted delegates outside a London defence industry conference.

In London, a coalition of legal advocacy groups is asking the High Court to expedite a judicial review of the UK government’s decision to keep selling military parts and arms to Israel.

The court claimants, led by Palestinian rights group Al-Haq and including the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), argue that the government is ignoring its own rules in the Gaza conflict.

“This case is a test for the credibility of the national arms control system, including the role of the courts in monitoring that,” Dearbhla Minogue, GLAN’s senior lawyer, told AFP.