A huge shipment of munitions intended for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has been held up in the Mediterranean due to international pressure. According to Amnesty International, the ship carrying 989 containers of ammunition, explosives and other munitions was scheduled to stop at the private port of Astakos, in western Greece, en route to Ashdod in Israel. However, the Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis has told reporters that neither Astakos nor ‘any other location in Greece will be used for the supplying of the Israeli army’.

The US Department of Defence said it was investigating other means to deliver the munitions to a US stockpile in Israel. Tender documents show that a further shipment of US arms is being planned which would include white phosphorus, known for its potential to cause severe burns. Israel has been accused of using white phosphorus as an indiscriminate weapon in Gaza.  

Amnesty has called for an immediate UN arms embargo on all parties involved in the Gaza conflict because of the use of weapons and munitions for serious violations of international humanitarian law. Meanwhile other IANSA members studying the supply of weapons to the conflict have raised concerns about possible violations of the EU Common Position on arms exports.

At least 1000 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF since 27 December, including over 300 children, and thousands have been seriously injured. Three Israeli civilians and 10 soldiers have been killed. The UN Security Council’s call for a ceasefire on 9 January 2009 has been ignored by combatants on both sides.

Israeli forces have carried out attacks which are disproportionate and indiscriminate, including direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, according to Amnesty. Meanwhile Palestinian groups have persisted in firing indiscriminately into civilian areas in Israel.

The US is by far the largest supplier of arms to Israel, but since 2001 significant supplies have also been sent from Germany, France, the UK, Spain, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Canada, Slovenia, Australia, Romania, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Serbia-Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzogovina. The Netherlands and Greece have been major transit countries to Israel, especially for US arms.

According to GRIP (Groupe de Recherche et d’ Information Sur la Paix et la Sécurité), the transport of military articles to Israel from the EU may contradict the legally-binding European Common Position on arms exports.

Campaign Against the Arms Trade Netherlands says Dutch and Belgian airports are being used for the transfer of weapons and ammunition from the USA to Israel without applying the correct EU arms export criteria. In 2006 and 2007 alone 56 million bullet parts, 3 million ammunition and tens of thousands cartridges, smoke shells and fuses from the US were transferred to the IDF through the main Dutch airport Schiphol. Now that the Israeli airline El Al has transferred its main activity to Liege (Bierset) airport, CAAT NL believes most US arms to Israel are transported via Belgium.