Trade negotiations between the UK and Israel seek to establish a new bilateral agreement and have been ongoing since 2022. In the talks Reynolds is dealing with a minister in Tel Aviv, Nir Barkat, who is one of the more extreme proponents of Israel’s brutal war in Gaza.

The government’s announcement was made two days after Israel killed over 30 Palestinians in an airstrike on a school housing displaced people in central Gaza.

Tom Wills, the director of the Trade Justice Movement, told Declassified: “It defies belief that Labour has chosen to continue pursuing a trade agreement with Israel. Instead of seeking closer trade ties, the UK should express its opposition to genocide, and its support of the International Court of Justice, by suspending trade privileges with Israel.”

He added: “The UK has a moral obligation to ensure that it is not complicit in Israel’s ongoing violations of international law. It is impossible to see how continuing trade negotiations will achieve that outcome.”

A recent legal review of UK policy towards Israel found that it is likely Britain’s trade relationship with Israel has helped to facilitate its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.