The source, who contributed to the drafting of the advice, was speaking after the Labour government banned 30 of about 350 arms export licences due to a clear risk cited in a government memorandum published on Monday that they might be used in serious breaches of international humanitarian law (IHL).
The source said what has emerged in the memorandum "is similar to what was being sent to the government from at least February onwards in various drafts by FCDO advisers, much of it linked to the deteriorating humanitarian position in Gaza, but what has been eventually published is in much less strident language".
"The tragedy has to be considered.
How many lives might have been saved if the arms export licences had been stopped then and not in September and what the potential ripple effect might have been on how other countries would have reacted."
The source added: "The advice being sent through to the Foreign Office was clear that the breaches of IHL were so obvious by Israel as the occupying power that there was a danger of UK complicity if the licences were not withdrawn."
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