Dutch court rejects demand for further export ban on jet parts over Gaza war

A Dutch court rejected on Friday a demand by rights group to order the Netherlands to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts that may end up in Israel.

The case, submitted by rights groups which include the Dutch arm of Oxfam, comes after another district court ruling in February that the Netherlands cannot send F-35 parts to Israel over concerns the jets could be involved in breaking international humanitarian law in the war on Gaza.

The NGOs had claimed that the Dutch state stopped the direct export of parts to Israel but continued to deliver fighter jet parts to the US and other countries.

Those parts could then be sent on or used in planes destined for Israel and that should also be stopped under the earlier order.

However, The Hague district court said in a press release that the NGOs' interpretation of the February ruling was too broad and the Dutch state was complying with the export ban as ordered.