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Jeddah - Yasmine El Tohamy - LONDON: A group of MPs has urged UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to intervene and stop a US oil tanker carrying fuel to Israel from docking in Gibraltar.
The 300,000 barrels of jet fuel aboard, believed to be military-grade JP-8 fuel, are expected to be used by the Israeli military to power F-16 fighter jets used in the war on Gaza.
Protests in Spain have already seen the owners of the ship, Overseas Santorini, decide not to dock at the Spanish port of Algeciras.
In the past shipments of fuel, sent from Corpus Christi in Texas to Ashkelon in Israel, would regularly dock at Algeciras and the Cypriot port city of Limassol. Authorities in Gibraltar say they have yet to receive a formal request for the vessel to dock.
The letter — signed by MPs including the former chair of the international development select committee, Sarah Champion, and John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor — says the F-16 is the aircraft type thought to be behind an Israeli strike that killed several British doctors from Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza in January.
It calls on the UK and Gibraltar’s leader chief minister, Fabian Picardo, to “prohibit and prevent Gibraltar being used as a haven for the transport of military fuel used in Israel’s assault on Gaza.”
The letter goes on to say: “The jet fuel will be unloaded and used to fuel the Israeli air force’s F16 and F35 that drop bombs on the people of Gaza. The 300,000 barrels of fuel are sufficient for around 12,000 F-16 refuellings.”
The signatories added: “The case to prevent Gibraltar’s facilities from being complicit in Israel’s breaches of international law are overwhelming. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault.”
Earlier this year, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion where it too warned against other nations aiding Israeli operations against the Palestinians in breach of international law.
In May, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said his country would not allow ships carrying weapons bound for Israel to use its ports.
Opposition to the Overseas Santorini docking in Spain or Gibraltar has been raised by local port-worker unions Union General de Trabajadores and Comisiones Obreras, as well as Spanish politicians including the current and former Podemos leaders Ione Belarra and Pablo Iglesias respectively.
A number of groups have also raised their opposition, including the Progressive International, Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, Disrupt Power, the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, Valero Out of Corpus, the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature, Gibraltar for Palestine, and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The UK government is reviewing export licenses selling arms to Israel in light of allegations of war crimes committed in the war on Gaza, which has so far killed more than 39,000 people.
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