The Netherlands can continue to deliver parts for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel in the Gaza Strip, after a Dutch court on Friday threw out a case brought by a group of human rights organisations.
The district court in The Hague said that supplying the parts was primarily a political decision that judges should not interfere with.
"The considerations that the minister makes are to a large extent of a political and policy nature and judges should leave the minister a large amount of freedom," the court ruled.
The organisations, including the local branch of Amnesty International, had argued that supplying the parts contributed to alleged violations of international law by Israel in its war with Hamas.
The US-owned F-35 parts are stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements.
These parts "make it possible for real bombs to be dropped on real houses and on real families", said Michiel Servaes, director of Oxfam Novib, one of the plaintiffs.
Dutch authorities said it was not clear whether they even had the power to intervene in the deliveries, part of a US-run operation that supplies parts to all F-35 partners.
"On the basis of current information on the deployment of Israeli F-35s, it cannot be established that the F-35s are involved in serious violations of humanitarian law of war," the government said in a letter to parliament.
But Liesbeth Zegveld, a human rights lawyer for the plaintiffs, had dismissed that as "nonsense."
She said the Dutch government was clearly familiar with what she termed "the enormous destruction of infrastructure and civilian centers in Gaza".
Government lawyers also argued that if the Dutch did not supply the parts from the warehouse based in the Netherlands, Israel could easily procure them elsewhere.
Now in its third month, the war was launched in response to the unprecedented attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, the war has killed more than 18,700 people, mostly women and children.
International law experts have told AFP that human rights violations are likely being carried out by both parties to the conflict.
The judge also ruled that the government "was not obliged to reassess the permit granted in 2016 for the transport of F-35 parts" in light of the current conflict.
The plaintiffs "have not made it sufficiently clear what exactly the State is accused of and in what respect the State is acting unlawfully," the court added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Elon Musk Faces Backlash After 'No Limit' Interview With Trump
Israel Confirms Its Delegation To Attend Gaza Truce Talks In Doha High-Stakes Gaza Ceasefire Talks To Be Held In Doha Today: Report Global Outrage Over Far-Right Israeli Minister's Prayer At Al-Aqsa Mosque 150 mg Semen In Kolkata Doctor's Body, Suspect Gang-Rape: Parents To Court "Want To Ask Congress...": Mamata Banerjee Snaps At Ally In Rape-Murder Case "Reclaim The Night": Women Seek Justice In Kolkata Doctor Rape-Murder Case NASA To Decide Stranded Starliner Astronauts' Route Home By End Of Month Mob Vandalises Hospital During Protest Over Kolkata Horror 8 Of Family Hospitalised After Consuming Wild Mushroom In Jharkhand: Cops Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.