Human rights groups sought to block the Dutch government from exporting F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, arguing in court on Monday that the exports could make the Netherlands complicit in possible war crimes.
The Netherlands houses one of several regional warehouses of US-owned F-35 parts which are then distributed to countries that request them, including Israel.
The rights groups, which included Oxfam Novib, the Dutch affiliate of the international charity, argued Israel was using the planes in attacks in Gaza that were killing civilians. Preventing that was more important than the Netherlands fulfilling its commercial or political obligations to allied countries, they argued.
"The (Dutch) state must immediately stop its deliveries of F-35 parts to Israel," lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld said in a summary proceeding at the Hague District Court.
"That is its obligation under ... article 1 of the Geneva Conventions, it is its obligation under the Genocide Treaty to prevent genocide, and it is its obligation under export law."
Israel denies committing war crimes as it responds to a Hamas cross-border raid on southern Israel on October 7 in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 240 taken hostage.
