A British diplomat has resigned over the U.K.’s “complicity in war crimes” in Gaza, stating there is “no justification” for the country’s continued arms sales to Israel.
Mark Smith, a diplomat working at the Foreign Office, reportedly submitted a resignation letter criticizing the government’s ongoing arms sales to Israel, media reported Friday.
On Sunday, the BBC confirmed that Smith, who worked on counterterrorism, resigned in protest of the arms sales.
“It is with sadness that I resign after a long career in the diplomatic service. I can no longer carry out my duties knowing that this Department may be complicit in war crimes,” the letter read.
The Foreign Office declined to comment on the case, stating the government is “committed to upholding international law.”
Smith, who previously assessed arms export licensing to the Middle East, stated that “ministers claim the U.K. has one of the most ‘robust and transparent’ arms export licensing regimes in the world, but this is the opposite of the truth.”
He cited “clear and unquestionable examples of war crimes and breaches of International Humanitarian Law” in Gaza by Israel.
The letter added that “over half of Gaza’s homes and over 80% of commercial properties have been damaged or destroyed. Humanitarian aid is being blocked, and civilians are regularly left with no safe quarter. Red Crescent ambulances have been attacked, and schools and hospitals are regularly targeted. These are war crimes.”
“There is no justification” for the U.K.’s continued arms sales to Israel, “yet somehow it continues,” he said.
Smith said he raised the issue at every level of the organization, including through an official whistleblowing investigation, but received “nothing more than ‘thank you, we have noted your concern.'”
The resignation email was sent to a wide distribution list, including hundreds of government officials, embassy staff, and special advisers to Foreign Office ministers, according to the BBC.
The move was praised by many on social media, including Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
“I hope more diplomats will follow the brave lead of Mark Smith and speak up against the enablers of Israel’s atrocities,” she wrote on X.
In June, the Department for Business and Trade said the U.K. had issued 108 arms export licenses to Israel since Oct. 7, when the Gaza conflict began, with over 300 licenses still active as of May.
