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Barnabas Tinkasiimire, a Ugandan member of parliament critical of President Yoweri Museveni, was abducted over the weekend and apparently tortured before his release, a member of the law society said on Monday. Uganda has seen increased pressure on opposition figures ahead of presidential elections in January. Museveni announced he will seek to extend his nearly 40 years in power.

The Uganda Law Society raised the alarm over the "enforced disappearance" of Barnabas Tinkasiimire, a lawyer and MP, after his family told them on Sunday that he had been picked up by "heavily armed, drone-operating security operatives" at a petrol station in the capital Kampala.

Tinkasiimire's wife said he had since been found in a suburb of the city.

"They dumped him in Namungoona in the early morning hours," she said, adding that he went missing on Friday.

"He is alive but very weak. We have taken him for medical attention," she said.

Tinkasiimire's wife later told the law society that he had "torture marks on his body", according to its vice-president, Anthony Asiimwe.

"We are concerned that a legislator and an advocate can be tortured," Asiimwe told news agencies.

"It is disturbing and we demand that the government get to the root of what happened to him," he added.

Though Tinkasiimire is a member of Museveni's ruling party, the National Resistance Movement, he has been an outspoken critic of some aspects of the president's rule in Uganda.

In a post on social media, opposition leader Bobi Wine said Tinkasiimire "has been very critical of Museveni's effort to impose his brutal son on our country, which his family believes is the reason he is being persecuted and held incommunicado".

Museveni's son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, is the head of the Ugandan army and widely seen as the likely successor to his father.

Kainerugaba last month boasted on social media that he had kidnapped one of Wine's aides and was torturing him in his basement.

The United Nations and several rights organisations have expressed concern about repression against opposition groups ahead of the election.

"Enforced disappearances are currently a serious problem in many parts of Uganda," the law society said.

Meanwhile, Museveni has confirmed he intends to contest in next year's presidential election, potentially extending his rule in the east African country to nearly half a century.

In a post on social media, late on Saturday, Museveni said he had "expressed my interest in running for... the position of presidential flag bearer," for his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

The 80-year-old has been ruler of Uganda since 1986 when he seized power after leading a five-year guerrilla war.

The ruling party has changed the constitution twice in the past to allow Museveni to extend his rule, and rights activists have accused him of using security forces and patronage to maintain his grip on power. He denies the accusation.

Museveni said he is seeking reelection to grow the country to a "$500 billion economy in the next five years." Uganda's GDP currently stands at about $66 billion, according to the finance ministry.

The country will hold its presidential election next January, when voters will also elect lawmakers.

(with newswires)

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Israel's military said Tuesday that it had expanded its operations in Gaza, where residents reported fierce gunfire and shelling days ahead of a planned trip to Washington by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The intensified operations came after days of mounting calls for a ceasefire, with US President Donald Trump -- whom Netanyahu is slated to meet with next week -- among those urging Israel to strike a new deal to halt the war and bring home the hostages still held in Gaza.

Israel's campaign to destroy the Palestinian militant group Hamas has continued unabated, however, with Gaza's civil defence agency reporting Israeli forces killed 17 people on Tuesday.

In response to reports of deadly strikes in the north and south of the territory, the Israeli army told AFP it was "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities".

Separately, it said Tuesday morning that in recent days it had "expanded its operations to additional areas within the Gaza Strip, [...]".

Raafat Halles, 39, from the Shujaiya district of Gaza City district, said "air strikes and shelling have intensified over the past week", and tanks have been advancing.

"I believe that every time negotiations or a potential ceasefire are mentioned, the army escalates crimes and massacres on the ground," he said. "I don't know why."

Amer Daloul, a 44-year-old resident of Gaza City, also reported fiercer clashes between Israeli forces and militants in recent days, telling AFP that he and his family were forced to flee the tent they were living in at dawn on Tuesday "due to heavy and random gunfire and shelling".

In the southern city of Rafah, resident Mohammed Abdel Aal, 41, said "tanks are present" in most parts of town.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that eight people were killed near aid distribution sites in central and southern Gaza Tuesday, in the latest in a long-running spate of deadly attacks on those seeking food.

One person was killed and 50 wounded when tanks and drones opened fire as crowds were waiting to collect aid near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the middle of the territory, Bassal said.

The civil defence said another six people were killed nearby while trying to reach the same aid centre.

Asked for comment, the Israeli military told AFP its forces "fired warning shots to distance suspects who approached the troops", adding it was not aware of any injuries but would review the incident.

At least one more person was killed near another aid centre in Rafah, the civil defence said.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.

A group of 169 aid organisations called Monday for an end to Gaza's "deadly" new US- and Israeli-backed aid distribution scheme, which they said forced starving civilians to "trek for hours through dangerous terrain and active conflict zones, only to face a violent, chaotic race" for food.

They urged a return to the UN-led aid mechanism that existed until March, when Israel imposed a full blockade on humanitarian assistance entering Gaza during an impasse in truce talks with Hamas.

The new scheme's administrator, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has distanced itself from reports of aid seekers being killed near its centres.

The Israeli army said it had also opened a review into a strike on a seafront Gaza cafe on Monday that it said had targeted militants.

The civil defence agency reported that the attack killed 24 people.

Maher Al-Baqa, 40, the brother of the owner of the cafe, told AFP that several of his relatives including two nephews were killed in the strike.

"It's one of the most well-known cafes on the Gaza coast, frequented by educated youth, journalists, artists, doctors, engineers and hardworking people," he said.

"They used to feel free and safe there -- it was like a second home to them."

Israel's declaration of victory in the recent 12-day war has raised pressure on it to put a similar end to more than 20 months of devastating fighting in Gaza.

"Taking advantage of the success is no less important than achieving the success," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP the group is "ready to agree to any proposal if it will lead to an end to the war and a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of occupation forces".

"So far, there has been no breakthrough."

London (AFP) – British police on Tuesday said they had arrested three senior staff at the hospital where nurse Lucy Letby was found to have murdered seven babies, on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Police launched a probe at the Countess of Chester Hospital (CoCH) in northwest England in 2023 after Letby was convicted and jailed for life for murders said to have taken place between 2015 and 2016.

The probe aimed to find out whether the failure of hospital staff to act in the face of increasing deaths amounted to criminality.

Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes said three people "who were part of the senior leadership team at the CoCH in 2015-2016" were arrested on Monday on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Hughes said the arrests, which were the first under the wider probe, had no impact on Letby's convictions.

The three were not named and were released on bail.

The Letby case shocked the nation during lengthy trials in 2023 and 2024, after which she was convicted for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more.

Letby, from Hereford, western England, was charged in 2020 following a string of deaths at the hospital's neo-natal unit, but has always maintained her innocence.

The prosecution said she attacked her vulnerable prematurely born victims, often during night shifts, by either injecting them with air, overfeeding them with milk or poisoning them with insulin.

But a panel of international experts said in February that the evidence used to convict her was wrong, and it was more likely that the babies had died from natural causes or bad medical care.

Her defence team has applied to the independent Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to probe whether there had been a possible miscarriage of justice in her two trials.

New Delhi (AFP) – India's capital banned fuel sales to ageing vehicles on Tuesday as authorities try to tackle the sprawling megacity's hazardous air pollution.

The city is regularly ranked one of the most polluted capitals globally with acrid smog blanketing its skyline every winter.

At the peak of the smog, levels of PM2.5 pollutants -- dangerous cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs -- surge to more than 60 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum.

Petrol cars older than 15 years, and diesel vehicles older than 10, were already banned from operating on New Delhi's roads by a 2018 Supreme Court ruling.

But millions flout the rules.

According to official figures, over six million such vehicles are plying the city's streets.

The ban that came into force on Tuesday seeks to keep them off the roads by barring them from refuelling.

Police and municipal workers were deployed at fuel stations across Delhi, where number plate-recognising cameras and loudspeakers were installed.

"We have been instructed to call in scrap car dealers if such vehicles come in," said a traffic policeman posted at a fuelling station in the city.

From November, the ban will be extended to satellite cities around the capital, an area home to more than 32 million people.

A study in the Lancet medical journal attributed 1.67 million premature deaths in India to air pollution in 2019.

Each winter, vehicle and factory emissions couple with farm fires from surrounding states to wrap the city in a dystopian haze.

Cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds worsen the situation by trapping deadly pollutants.

Piecemeal government initiatives, such as partial restrictions on fossil fuel-powered transport and water trucks spraying mist to clear particulate matter from the air, have failed to make a noticeable impact.

Tokyo (AFP) – A Nobel Prize-winning anti-nuclear group launched an online memorial Tuesday for the 38,000 children who died in the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ahead of the 80th anniversary next month.

It features more than 400 profiles with details of the children's lives, "their agonising deaths and the grief of surviving family members," said the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in a statement.

"By sharing their heart-wrenching stories, we hope to honour their memories and spur action for the total abolition of nuclear weapons -- an increasingly urgent task given rising global tensions," it said.

The United States dropped an atomic bomb on each Japanese city on August 6 and 9, 1945 -- the only times nuclear weapons have been used in warfare. Japan surrendered days later.

Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and around 74,000 others in Nagasaki including many who survived the explosions but died later from radiation exposure.

Out of around 210,000 victims, around 38,000 were children, said the ICAN, citing Hiroshima and Nagasaki officials.

Washington has never apologised for the bombings.

Clicking a crane icon, visitors to the online platform can read the children's profiles, with photos of 132 children out of 426, ranging in age from infants to teenagers.

Among them is Tadako Tameno, who died in agony aged 13 in the arms of her mother two days after the Hiroshima atomic bombing.

Six children in the Mizumachi family were killed in the Nagasaki atomic bombing. Only one girl, Sachiko, 14, survived.

The initiative comes after US President Donald Trump last week likened Washington's strike on Iran's nuclear facilities to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.

"Actually, if you look at Hiroshima, if you look at Nagasaki, you know that ended a war too," Trump said in The Hague.

This prompted anger from survivors and a small demonstration in Hiroshima. The city's assembly passed a motion condemning remarks that justify the use of atomic bombs.

Israel's ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen, will attend this year's ceremony in Nagasaki, local media reported.

Cohen, together with the envoys of several Western nations including the United States, boycotted last year's event after comments by the city's mayor about Gaza.

Russia's ambassador will attend the Nagasaki ceremony, the first time its representative has been invited since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NHK reported.

However, Nikolay Nozdrev will not attend the 80th anniversary event three days earlier on August 6, the broadcaster said, citing the Russian embassy.

ICAN won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Last year, it was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors.

Seoul (AFP) – State media images showed leader Kim Jong Un honouring the flag-draped coffins of North Korean soldiers killed helping Russia fight Ukraine, as Seoul's defence ministry said Tuesday it saw no signs of further troop deployments yet.

The nuclear-armed North has become one of Russia's main allies during its more than three-year-long Ukraine offensive, sending thousands of troops and container loads of weapons to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from Kursk.

Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun, citing information from Seoul's spy agency.

The images of a visibly emotional Kim mourning the fallen soldiers were broadcast by the official Korean Central Television, released as part of an event in Pyongyang on Sunday attended by Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova.

It marked the one-year anniversary of a military pact signed by the two countries, which includes a mutual defence clause.

Kim was shown placing a North Korean flag over a coffin during a ceremony for the return of the remains of North Korean soldiers who were deployed and killed in Moscow's war against Kyiv.

The footage also showed images of North Korean soldiers in the battlefield, accompanied by captions that said: "Oh, our heroes, shining stars of my homeland" and "those who gave their lives without hesitation to defend honour shine like radiant stars."

North Korean and Russian attendees were shown bursting into tears as they watched the tribute.

A photograph of a document, purportedly penned by Kim, was also featured, with a caption saying he had "approved operational plans for the liberation of Kursk and issued attack orders to special operations units" in the final months of 2024.

The North Korean leader attended the performance with his teenage daughter Ju Ae -- widely seen by many analysts as his likely successor.

North Korea only confirmed it had deployed troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine in April, and admitted that its soldiers had been killed in combat.

South Korean lawmaker Lee said last week that the North will send more troops to Russia to assist in its war against Ukraine, possibly as early as this month, citing Seoul's spy agency.

But Seoul's defence ministry said Tuesday it currently sees "no signs" that North Korea is preparing to deploy troops to Russia, noting that the country is in its summer training period, with some frontline units also participating in mid-year drills.

Culiacán (Mexico) (AFP) – The bodies of 20 people, several of them decapitated, were found on a highway bridge in a part of Mexico where factions of the Sinaloa drug cartel are fighting each other, authorities said Monday.

Four headless corpses were by the roadside while 16 bodies were discovered inside an abandoned vehicle, the Sinaloa state prosecutor's office said.

Five human heads were found inside a bag at the scene.

All of the bodies showed signs of gunshot wounds, prosecutors said.

Local media reported that four decapitated bodies were left hanging from the bridge by their legs -- a common tactic by criminal gangs -- but there was no official confirmation.

Violence has soared in the northwestern state since the capture of cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada almost a year ago.

The veteran drug trafficker claimed he was kidnapped in Mexico by a son of notorious druglord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Zambada said he was then flown against his will in a private plane to the United States, where El Chapo himself is serving a life sentence.

The conflict, which has left more than 1,200 people dead according to official figures, pits gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada.

The cartel is one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups designated terrorist organizations by the United States.

Criminal violence, most of it linked to drug trafficking, has claimed around 480,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and left more than 120,000 people missing.

Johannesburg (AFP) – Four former executives at South Africa's failing transport company were arrested and charged Monday over allegations of corruption worth millions of dollars in a high-profile case linked to the plunder of state resources.

The ports and freight rail company Transnet was among the state-owned firms caught in a widespread graft scandal that rocked ex-president Jacob Zuma's government between 2010 and 2018.

The web of corruption that hollowed out the companies is commonly referred to as "state capture" in South Africa.

The accused who appeared in court Monday are former group chief executives Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gana, as well as former heads of finance and procurement.

"They are facing 18 charges that include the contravention of the Public Finance Management Act, fraud, corruption and the contravention of the Companies Act," the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

Their case relates to tenders issued during a plan to expand and modernise the country's rail infrastructure, the logistical backbone of the continent's most advanced economy.

In one instance, the officials are accused of bypassing due process and awarding a tender to an unqualified Chinese firm for the supply of 95 trains, with the contract allegedly inflated by $13 million, NPA said.

Molefe and Gama are currently serving as members of parliament under Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

None of the accused has entered a plea. They were each granted a $2,800 bail, with the matter due back in court in October.

"The arrest of the accused highlights how persons in positions of trust and power allowed themselves to be part of a corrupt relationship that sought self-enrichment as opposed to the enrichment of the country and its infrastructure," NPA said.

Transnet, which owns all South Africa's rail, ports and pipelines, is hobbled by a mountain of debt, theft and maintenance issues.

A report into state graft under Zuma published in 2022 described Transnet as a "primary site" of state corruption.

The investigation led by former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo found contracts worth billions of f rand had been "irregularly awarded for the benefit of entities linked to the Gupta family," a business family of Indian migrants with close ties to Zuma.

The four-year graft probe concluded that Transnet became a cash cow for the Guptas who moved to South Africa in 1993.

Molefe and Gama denied wrongdoing when they testified before the commission.

They are facing a separate graft case linked to the procurement of more than 1,000 trains.

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 51 people on Monday, including 24 at a seafront rest area, as fresh calls grew for a ceasefire in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

US President Donald Trump has recently urged Israel to "make the deal in Gaza", while key mediator Qatar said Monday that "momentum" had been created by the truce with Iran last week.

But on the ground, Israel has continued to pursue its offensive across the Palestinian territory in a bid to destroy the militant group Hamas.

Gaza's civil defence agency said 51 people had been killed by Israeli forces on Monday, including 24 in a strike on a rest area on Gaza City's seafront.

"The place is always crowded with people because the rest area offers drinks, family seating and internet access," eyewitness Ahmed Al-Nayrab, 26, told AFP, recalling a "huge explosion that shook the area".

"I saw body parts flying everywhere, and bodies cut and burned... It was a scene that made your skin crawl."

Another eyewitness, Bilal Awkal, 35, said "blood covered the ground and screams filled the air".

"Women and children were everywhere, like a scene from a movie about the end of the world."

Approached for comment by AFP, the Israeli army said it was "looking into" the reports.

The Hamas government media office reported that photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab was among those killed in the strike.

Israeli restrictions on media in Gaza and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers and authorities in the territory.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 27 others were killed by Israeli strikes or fire across Gaza, including 11 near aid points in the centre and south.

Eyewitnesses and local authorities have reported repeated killings of Palestinians near distribution centres in recent weeks, after Israel began allowing in a trickle of aid at the end of May.

Samir Abu Jarbou, 28, told AFP by phone that he had gone with relatives to pick up food in an area of central Gaza around midnight.

"Suddenly the (Israeli) army opened fire, and drones started shooting. We ran away and got nothing," he said.

In the southern city of Khan Yunis, the dead and wounded were rushed to a hospital in an open-top trailer after aid seekers said they were fired on by Israeli forces in Rafah.

"The targeting was deliberate, aimed at people as they were leaving," eyewitness Aboud al-Adwi told AFP.

"There was no one among us who was wanted or posed any threat. We were all civilians, simply trying to get food for our children," he added.

AFP footage from Nasser Hospital showed the wounded being treated on a blood-stained floor.

The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment when asked by AFP about the civil defence reports.

Netanyahu had said on Sunday that Israel's "victory" over Iran had created "opportunities", including for freeing hostages.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid, meanwhile, called for an end to the fighting in the territory on Monday, saying there was "no longer any benefit" to the war.

"We now face the completion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve its objectives -- foremost among them, the release of all hostages and the defeat of Hamas," Defence Minister Israel Katz said during a meeting with Netanyahu and the army's general staff.

Trump had said on Friday that he was hoping for a new ceasefire in Gaza "within the next week". Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is in Washington this week for talks with US officials.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told journalists on Monday that "momentum" had been created by the Iran-Israel ceasefire on June 24, but that "we won't hold our breath for this to happen today and tomorrow".

Istanbul (AFP) – Militants from the PKK will begin laying down their weapons at a disarmament ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan in early July, the Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported on Monday.

The move comes just six weeks after the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced it was ending more than four decades of guerrilla warfare in a conflict that claimed over 40,000 lives.

Turkey's Kurdish minority is hoping the PKK's decision will pave the way for a political settlement with Ankara that will herald a new openness to the Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey's population of 85 million

Citing two sources in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Rudaw said the move would be both a "trust-building step" and a "goodwill gesture" to advance the reconciliation process with Turkey.

According to the sources, the ceremony would take place in Sulaimaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan's second-biggest city.

Most of the PKK's fighters have spent the past decade in the mountains of northern Iraq, where Turkey also maintains military bases and has carried out frequent operations against Kurdish fighters.

"Between July 3 and 10, a group of PKK members, probably numbering between 20 and 30, will lay down their weapons in a ceremony to be held in Sulaimaniyah," Rudaw said.

The sources said jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan was expected to issue a new message regarding the resolution process "in the next few days".

"After that, the disarmament process will officially begin," they said.

The PKK decision was in response to a call in February by Ocalan, who has been serving life on a prison island off Istanbul since 1999.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he would, in the coming days, meet a delegation from the pro-Kurdish DEM party, which has played a key role in shuttling messages between Ocalan and Ankara.

Quoting one of the sources, Rudaw said that after laying down their weapons, the militants would "then return to their bases, unarmed", denying reports they would be held in certain cities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

"The guerrillas will return to their bases after disarming. It is out of the question for them to go to any city," the source said.

Until now, there has been little detail about how the dissolution mechanism would work but the Turkish government has said it would carefully monitor the process to ensure full implementation.

Beijing (AFP) – Two Chinese aircraft carrier groups conducted combat drills in the western Pacific Ocean, Beijing said Monday, as its honing of its military capacity unsettles some regional neighbours.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) said its Liaoning and Shandong carrier formations "recently... completed combat training on the high seas and returned to their home ports safely".

The mission was "routine training organised in accordance with annual plans", the military said on an official social media account without disclosing the dates or precise locations of the manoeuvres.

The carriers conducted joint combat and systems training as well as reconnaissance, early warning, anti-strike, sea assault, air defence and night flight training, the PLA said.

State broadcaster CCTV published a video of sleek grey warplanes soaring into the air from the runway on the deck of one of the carriers.

Other clips showed two planes flying in close formation, as well as a helicopter, with navy personnel watching through binoculars.

Recent Chinese manoeuvres in the Pacific have caused particular concern in Japan, which said this month it detected the two aircraft carriers operating simultaneously in the Pacific for the first time, indicating China's intention to improve operational capacity in remote areas.

Tokyo also said Chinese fighters took off from the Shandong and flew within 45 metres (150 feet) of a Japanese military patrol plane.

Chinese officials disputed the account at the time, blaming the incident on the Japanese aircraft.

The PLA acknowledged on Monday that "during the drills, foreign warships and aircraft approached (the carriers) several times to conduct reconnaissance, tracking and surveillance".

"The formations maintained a high alert level and a responsive combat status throughout the process, organised combat takeoffs of carrier-based aircraft many times, and handled affairs professionally and steadily," it said.

China has ploughed billions of dollars into modernising its military in recent years, a trend that has unnerved some governments in East Asia even though Beijing claims its aims are peaceful.

The Liaoning and Shandong are China's only two carriers currently in operation, but a third -- the Fujian -- is undergoing sea trials.

A Taiwanese security official also said this month that Beijing had deployed its two aircraft carrier groups around the island in May.

The Communist Party has refused to rule out using force to seize control of Taiwan, a democratic, self-ruled island that Beijing insists is part of its territory.

London (AFP) – The High Court in London rejected a legal challenge on Monday brought by a Palestinian rights group seeking to block the UK from supplying components for Israeli F-35 fighter jets.

Israel has used the jets to devastating effect in its bombardment of Gaza.

The UK government suspended some export licences for military equipment after concluding there was a risk Israel could be breaching international humanitarian law but made an exemption for some parts for Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth jets.

In its claim to the High Court, rights group Al-Haq called for a judicial review, saying the "carve out" was unlawful and alleging the government had misunderstood the applicable rules of international law.

It was supported by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and others in its case.

Judges Stephen Males and Karen Steyn said they "reject all" of the grounds for challenging the government's decision.

The case was not about "whether the UK should supply arms or other military equipment to Israel", said the judges.

Rather, the case was concerned with "whether it is open to the court to rule that the UK must withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration" because of the prospect that some UK manufactured components may be used by Israel in the Gaza war in actions that could break international humanitarian law.

"Under our constitution that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive, which is democratically accountable to parliament, and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts," said the judges.

"Once the true nature of the issue is identified, it is clear that the claim must fail. Accordingly, permission to bring a judicial review claim is refused," they added.

Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq said in a statement issued to AFP: "By exposing serious government failings in facilitating international crimes against Palestinians through its arms exports, civil society and human rights organisations have achieved a crucial breakthrough.

"We will continue to persevere in the UK and beyond until governments are held accountable. Israel's impunity is challenged and justice for the Palestinian people is realised," he added.

The UK contributes components to an international defence programme that produces and maintains the F-35s.

Defence Secretary John Healey argued a suspension would impact the "whole F-35 programme" and have a "profound impact on international peace and security".

Lawyers for Al-Haq said the government had known there was a "clear risk" Israel would use the jet parts to commit violations of international law.

But government lawyer James Eadie said the court was not placed to rule on the legality of Israel's actions, and that attempting to do so could have a "potentially deleterious" effect on "foreign relations with a friendly state, namely Israel".

In September 2024, the new Labour government announced it was suspending around 30 of 350 export licences following a review of Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law.

But the partial ban did not cover British-made F-35 parts, which include refuelling probes, laser targeting systems, tyres and ejector seats, according to Oxfam.

Healey has previously said suspending F-35 licences would "undermine US confidence in the UK and NATO" but lawyers for Al-Haq have described the exemption as a "loophole".

UK-based NGO Campaign Against Arms Trade has said that licencing figures showed the government had made a "shocking increase in military exports to Israel" in the months after its September 2024 announcement of partial suspensions.

It said the figures showed the UK approved £127.6 million ($170 million) in military equipment to Israel in single-issue licences from October to December 2024, saying this was more than for the period from 2020 to 2023 combined.

Most of the licences were for military radars, components and software, as well as targeting equipment, according to the NGO, which was involved in the case against the government.