Arms experts and activists are raising questions regarding the drone utilized by the Israeli military when it killed seven aid workers, including three veterans of the British Armed Forces, in Gaza. These experts are specifically probing whether the drone was powered by an engine manufactured in the United Kingdom.
The seven World Central Kitchen aid workers had just finished delivering over 100 metric tons (110 tons) of food aid to Deir al-Balah in Central Gaza when their three-truck convoy was targeted with multiple missiles by an Israeli Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). (Related: VIDEO: Israeli government spokesman refuses to apologize for killing of food aid workers.)
This incident sparked global condemnation and intensified calls, particularly within the U.K. and the United States, for an end to all arms sales to Israel.
Arms monitors and aviation experts have also begun scrutinizing the possibility that the drone involved may have been equipped with an engine made by UAV Engines Limited, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems U.K., which is itself a subsidiary of the military and defense contractor of the same name in Israel.
Neither UAV Engines nor Elbit Systems U.K. have responded to inquiries regarding this matter. The British government's Department for Business and Trade has also refused to comment on the possibility.
"We continue to monitor the situation in Gaza," said a government spokesperson. "We welcome Israel's commitment to a full, urgent and transparent inquiry into [the World Central Kitchen] attack and we want to see that happen very quickly."
British tech suspected of being used in Israeli drones for over a decade
The issue of whether British tech is actively being used by the Israeli Defense Forces in its drones to attack Palestinians has long puzzled arms trade campaigners. Allegations first came out in 2009, and since then questions have arisen regarding UAV Engines's culpability.
"We cannot categorically confirm that we have physically checked that the engines have been incorporated," said Jane Carpenter, a senior official with the export control section of the company's business and enterprise department, in a statement back in 2009. "We only licensed them to Israel for onward export."
Elbit has long denied that the engines manufactured in the U.K. are being used by the Israeli military. Instead, the company claims the engines manufactured in Britain are given to the British Armed Forces for its own drone program and sold to other international customers.
But despite these denials, Sam Perlo-Freeman of the British civil society group Campaigns Against Arms Trade pointed out that "the evidence seems to stack up that it is a U.K. engine."
"And, if it's not, then Elbit needs to clarify that," he added. "Definitely, it seems to be based on a U.K. design at the very least."
Among the evidence, Perlo-Freeman noted that there are specialist websites and reports indicating that the Hermes 450 runs on a British-made engine.
Olly Sprague, military, security and police program director at Amnesty International U.K., noted that the only way anybody will be able to confirm with certainty is if a Hermes 450 "falls out of the sky."
"I've been waiting patiently for one of these things to fall out of the sky and for someone to pull the engine out and say, 'That's made in Britain,'" said Sprague. "Is there a connection to the U.K.? Yes, clearly because the engine system on it is of U.K. origin and design. Whether they were physically manufactured and exported from the U.K. and put in the drones is the question."
Watch this video discussing how the IDF launched three drone missiles against the food aid vehicles.
This video is from the TruNews channel on Brighteon.com.
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World outraged as Israeli airstrike KILLS 7 multinational aid workers in Gaza.
Israeli drone strikes kill 4 unarmed Palestinian youths in Gaza.
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