At 7 AM, activists with Palestine Action blockaded the way into UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS) in Meridian East Business Park. Two people have attached themselves to a modified van on one side of the road leading to the site, whilst two others are attached to each other underneath a car on the other side. By doing so, they are preventing workers from entering the premises and deliveries from being made, thereby shutting down the Israeli arms factory. The action comes as the death toll in Gaza has reached 13,000 people, with 30,000 injured, as Israeli bombs continue to rain down on Palestinians in a genocide which has been green-lighted by the British and US governments.

UAV Tactical Systems is a joint venture of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, and French arms company Thales. Elbit supplies 85% of Israel’s drone fleet and land-based military equipment, marketing its weapons to the world as “battle-tested” on Palestinians. Their flagship drone is the Watchkeeper, which is modelled on the Hermes 450 and operated in Afghanistan and Iraq. U-TacS also exports military drone equipment to the apartheid state of Israel. Today’s action is thus a concrete form of solidarity with the Palestinians under attack while Western governments insist on supporting Israel to the hilt despite growing public opposition.

Palestine Action last hit the U-TacS site following the massacre of over 500 people in the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital, and this past week, the world has once again witnessed the brutal attack and occupation of Al Shifa Hospital by Israeli forces. On Saturday, a UN assessment team discovered a mass grave of Palestinians outside the medical complex, and the World Health Organisation has described the hospital as a ‘death zone‘. British complicity in the genocide of Gaza will continue to be confronted by Palestine Action until all links have been broken.