Gaza Herald – French arms sales to Israel surged in 2024 to their highest level in eight years, despite global outrage over Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
According to a confidential 2025 defense ministry report obtained by Mediapart, Israeli orders reached €27.1m last year, which is the highest since 2017, even as the war on Gaza has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians. Deliveries totaled €16.1m, consistent with the decade-long average.
The report reveals that while export licenses to Israel decreased from 75 in 2023 to 50 in 2024, the total authorized value more than doubled, rising from €176.2 million to €387.8 million. Much of this covers ammunition, fire control systems, and imaging equipment deemed “essential for ground operations,” according to Amnesty International France.
French officials insist that most exports involve components for re-export or defensive systems, such as Israel’s Iron Dome. Still, rights groups accuse Paris of complicity in war crimes by enabling Israel’s military machine.
Activists say France’s refusal to impose a full embargo, as it has on Russia and Iran, exposes the hollowness of its recent pledge to recognize the Palestinian state at the UN. Amnesty warned that Israel’s genocide in Gaza runs on weapons, and France is one of the suppliers
