Weapons worth €53 million exported to Israel under EU trade deal since October 2023

The Ditch can exclusively report that EU member states have exported €53 million in arms and ammunition to Israel since October 2023 under their controversial Israel trade agreement.

The figure includes €6.38 million in weapons sent from EU member states to Israel under the agreement in the first four months of this year. The figure doesn’t include all exports from the EU to Israel because some relevant deals weren’t conducted under the agreement. 

Though Israel imposed a food blockade on Gaza from 2 March this year, EU member states – including Spain, Austria and the Czech Republic – have since allowed weapons exports to Israel under the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

EU foreign ministers agreed yesterday to review the agreement in response to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

The munitions exported under the agreement in March and April this year include 6.8 million rounds of ammunition from companies in the Czech Republic to Israel, according to records obtained by The Ditch from the Israel Tax Authority.

Last month Spain – which recently called for the EU-Israel trade deal to be suspended – allowed the export of 3,930 military weapons parts to Israel under the EU trade agreement.

Meanwhile 3,106 handguns were sent from Austria to Israel in March under the same agreement.

EU member states exported weapons and ammunition worth €31.3 million to Israel in 2024 under the agreement, which has been in force for 25 years.

The European Commission has been contacted for comment.