ACTIVISTS rallied outside the British HQ of Israel’s largest arms firm today in protest against the apartheid regime’s deadly attacks on Gaza that left at least 28 people dead.

Nine children were among those killed in a wave of Israeli air raids on the strip on Monday night, according to Gaza health officials. 

Activists in Britain responded with a rally outside the central London offices of Israeli-owned arms giant Elbit Systems, which manufactures weapons used by the Israeli military in Gaza. 

Campaign group Palestine Action, which organised the Holborn protest, said that arms produced in Elbit’s British factories are used to carry out abhorrent crimes in Palestine and that campaigners refuse to allow its deadly trade to continue on British soil.

The action came as the British government faced fresh calls to end arms sales to Israel in the wake of the deadly attacks on Gaza and violence against protesters and worshippers in Jerusalem. 

Hundreds of Palestinians have been injured after being shot at, beaten and arrested during three consecutive nights of Israeli military raids on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque — Islam’s third holiest site — during Ramadan. 

The protests were sparked last week when an Israeli court ordered the eviction of Palestinian families from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Jewish illegal settlers. The evictions are part of a wider process of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem. 

The violence escalated on Monday night when the Israeli military launched air raids on the Gaza Strip as Hamas fired missiles in retaliation to the violence at al-Aqsa. Two Israeli women were reportedly killed in the strikes.

Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori told the Morning Star: “Palestinians are being brutalised under Israel’s apartheid regime, in Gaza, Jerusalem and in all the occupied territories. 

“The munitions and military tech that the Israeli forces used to carry out their abhorrent crimes are produced in Elbit factories across the UK.

“We will not permit the business of bloodshed to continue on UK soil.”

On Monday the direct-action group once again hit Elbit’s Instro Precision arms factory in Sandwich, Kent — spraying the building with red paint. 

Elbit Systems UK has 10 sites across the country, including four arms factories. Earlier this year the Ministry of Defence handed the firm a £100 million contract to develop a “detect-and-destroy system” for the British army. 

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) urged the British government to cease selling arms to Israel, highlighting that Britain has licensed £400m worth of weapons to the repressive state since 2015. 

CAAT’s Dana Aboul-Jabine said: “Regardless of how many atrocities have been inflicted, Downing Street has continued to arm and support Israeli forces. 

“UK-made arms have been used against Palestinians before and it is likely that they will be again. These arms sales do not just provide military support, they also send a clear sign of political support for the daily abuse that is central to the occupation.

“Time and again, successive UK governments have put arms sales ahead of the rights and lives of Palestinians. That long and shameful policy must stop.”

MPs likewise condemned Israel for its attacks on the Gaza Strip, where about half of the population are children. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said he was shocked by the violence against worshippers, while shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy condemned civilian deaths as well as Hamas’s rocket fire.
  
“Israeli authorities must commit to ending the eviction of Palestinians from their homes and adhere to international law, and Jerusalem’s sacred sites must be respected,” Ms Nandy said.  

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Israel of launching deliberately provocative attacks on al-Aqsa mosque. “As the occupying power, the Israeli government has it in its gift to rectify the current situation and not exacerbate it,” he said. 

The Jewish Socialists’ Group issued a statement condemning Israel’s ambassador to Britain Tzipi Hotovely for attempting to “defend the indefensible actions of the Israeli authorities.”

“We call on Jewish organisations here in Britain to stand instead with those Israelis who support peace with justice, and to immediately end the practice of providing Hotovely a platform and normalising her extreme racism and warmongering,” the group said. 

Thousands were expected to attend a rally outside Downing Street this evening, with Mr Corbyn, Labour MP Zarah Sultana and National Education Union general secretary Kevin Courtney set to speak.

Ahead of the rally, Palestine Solidarity Campaign called for the British government to push Israel to end the evictions and impose sanctions on the apartheid state.

Protests were also held in Sheffield and Glasgow.