LONDON: The UK has approved more than 100 export licenses for the sale of weapons, military equipment, and other items to Israel since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed around 1,200 people, government figures show.

Just over a third of the licenses, 37 of the 108 issued, were described as military, while 63 were declared as non-military, but included telecommunication and software items for use by the Israel Defense Forces.

A further eight open licenses were granted, statistics released by the Department for Business and Trade show.

The data has been released after calls by politicians and campaigners for the British government to be transparent about arms exports to Israel amid what the department called “exceptional parliamentary interest.”

Almost 37,000 Palestinians have been killed and at least 83,530 injured in the Israeli military offensive in Gaza launched in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack.

Emily Apple, of the Campaign against Arms Trade, slammed the figures for only showing the number of licenses, not the value or the detailed categories of what was exported — data that is normally contained in quarterly arms export licenses statistics, the Guardian reported.

“This data release was supposed to address the political and public interest in arms sales to Israel; the figures released do not do this as they do not give any details of the equipment exported or its value,” she said.

“If and when we have a new Labour government (after a July 4 general election), it is vital that they not only impose an arms embargo but also address the lack of transparency in our export licensing system,” she added.

Approved UK arms exports licenses to Israel were valued at £42 million ($53.4 million) in 2022, with the 2023 figure due to be released later this week.

Campaigners have pressed the British government to end its arms sales to Israel, claiming the exports break international humanitarian law.

Yasmine Ahmed, director at UK Human Rights Watch, said: “The right way to approach Israel’s commitment to comply with international humanitarian law is not by reference to Israel’s subjective interpretation of its compliance with IHL, but by an objective interpretation of what IHL actually requires.”

Her concerns were echoed by Sacha Deshmukh, CEO of Amnesty International UK, who said: “We’re supporting this important case because of the UK’s refusal to abide by its international legal obligations and suspend arms transfers to Israel.”

Earlier this month it was announced that British government ministers found no reason to end weapons exports to Israel after reviewing the latest three-month period of the Gaza war up to April.

“As required by the UK’s robust arms export control regime, the foreign secretary has now reviewed the most recent advice about the situation in Gaza and Israel’s conduct of their military campaign,” a statement from the UK Foreign Office said.

“The business secretary has therefore decided our position on export licenses remains unchanged. This is consistent with the advice ministers have received. As ever, we will keep the position under review.

“The UK operates a robust and thorough assessment of arms export license applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. These criteria include that we will not grant an export license if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has retained most of the Cabinet ministers for his third term in office, signaling policy continuity, experts say, as they forecast a more conciliatory approach toward minorities.

Modi named the members of his government on Monday, one day after being sworn in following a mammoth general election, which ran from mid-April until June.

External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar remains in charge of India’s foreign policy, Amit Shah has stayed as home minister, Nirmala Sitharaman as finance minister, and Rajnath Singh as defense minister.

The first minister to comment after his re-appointment was Jaishankar, who told reporters on Tuesday that the “foreign policy of Modi 3.0” will focus on resolving border issues with China and, on finding a solution to the “issue of years-old cross-border terrorism” with Pakistan.

Nuclear-armed India and China share a 3,800 km border over which they fought a war in 1962. Since 2020, they have engaged in a military standoff on the border — the worst in five decades.

With Pakistan, also a nuclear-armed neighbor, India has fought three wars, including two over control of the disputed Kashmir region in the Himalayas.

“The message from the way the cabinet has been formed and the way Dr. Jaishankar continues as the foreign minister means that the previous approach of marginalizing Pakistan in the Indian foreign policy and standing up to China will continue,” Prof. Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, told Arab News.

“Also, the way India has been reactive on the global stage is again something that is again likely to continue, so India will continue to find its own space in the global order through active diplomacy as it has tried to do in the last one decade.”

Despite becoming the second Indian prime minister to win a third term, Modi had to rely on regional allies to form his Cabinet.

The BJP won 240 seats in the 543-member parliament, losing its absolute majority for the first time since 2014. It was able to form a government with the support of two coalition members — the Telugu Desam Party, a player in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and the Janata Dal (United) party from the eastern state of Bihar.

Their National Democratic Alliance controls 293 seats, while 272 were needed to form the government.

None of the key ministries went to the coalition partners.

“Practically no portfolio has changed except that the civil aviation has gone to the TDP but by and large all the crucial posts are with the BJP,” said R. Jagannathan, editorial director of the Hindu nationalist Swarajya magazine.

“I think the coalition people cannot expect more than their proportionate share of seats in the coalition. They don’t have that many seats to demand so much more ... The coalition will not have an impact in terms of the ministries they control, they will have an impact behind the scenes. They will get the Modi government to do many things for their states, mainly Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.”

The Modi “3.0” Cabinet saw representation from across states and castes but not for the 200 million Muslim minority.

A champion of the Hindu majority, who make up 80 percent of India’s 1.4 billion population, Modi has been widely criticized for undermining India’s secular democracy with a majoritarian agenda, which has facilitated violent attacks by Hindu nationalists against minorities, particularly Muslims.

For Venkat Narayana, former professor of economics at the Kakatiya University Telangana state, the lack of Muslim representation in Modi’s government was a “signal that he would continue with his non-secular approach and his anti-minority politics remain as pronounced as in the previous two terms.”

But since the 2024 election has been seen as a comeback of India’s opposition with 232 parliament seats, the prime minister will have to be “more conciliatory and democratic this time,” Narayana said.

“He can’t afford to shut the opposition completely now. He cannot run the government with the hardcore agenda otherwise the government will collapse.”

Prof. Ajay Gudavarthy from the Centre for Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi told Arab News that the BJP’s alliance partner TDP has “a fair share of Muslim backing,” so there must be an agreement regarding that.

“The BJP this time might not go for some of the radical agendas like mob lynching which was followed in the previous terms. But they will follow a more cultural majoritarian agenda,” he said.

“Let’s wait and watch.”