Overview

• In a 1 September letter disclosed this week, then foreign secretary David Lammy wrote that the government “has not concluded that Israel is acting with” genocidal intent.
• Independent MPs and international law scholar Juliette McIntyre denounced the position, pointing out that the ICJ’s January 2024 provisional measures rested on a plausible genocide claim.
• The International Association of Genocide Scholars voted on 31 August to find Israel’s conduct in Gaza genocidal, echoing conclusions by Israeli groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights.
• Escalations continued as the UN secretary-general condemned an Israeli strike in Doha as a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and the IDF ordered Gaza City residents to evacuate ahead of a new operation.
• The Labour government suspended about 30 UK arms export licences yet exempted F-35 parts sent to a global spares pool, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog.