Firms linked to settlements received £10.7m in Britain — Al Jazeera
UK public bodies have published 18 new contracts worth a total of £10.7 million with companies linked to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The contracts appeared after the British government announced new powers on September 8 to impose sanctions on companies that profit from settlement-related activity.
According to Al Jazeera, an analysis of procurement records, corporate documents and contract data showed that companies listed by the UN for settlement-related activities, as well as their subsidiaries, received contracts in the UK public sector.
Contracts after the sanctions announcement
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the House of Commons that the government would act against individual companies and people providing construction, infrastructure, financing or real estate services to expand settlements.
Al Jazeera reported that it did not receive a response from the Cabinet Office to an inquiry about the new contracts. The department had previously told the outlet that each public body independently decides whether to exclude suppliers within specific procurements. It also said that public procurement should not be used to boycott suppliers linked to other countries without formal sanctions, embargoes or restrictions.
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Former Labour Party leader and MP Jeremy Corbyn called the situation outrageous and insulting to the public. Neve Gordon, a professor at Queen Mary University of London School of Law, told Al Jazeera that such companies could, in his view, be violating obligations under international humanitarian law.
Which companies received contracts
Three subsidiaries of Germany's Heidelberg Materials received the largest share of the new contracts by value: 14 deals worth £10.4 million, mainly for road works and resurfacing for National Highways and local councils in Nottingham and Lincolnshire. The UN added the group to its updated list in September 2026 in connection with the commercial use of natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Motorola Solutions and its subsidiaries also received two contracts worth about £87,900 for police communications services. Egis, through subsidiary Thomas & Adamson International Limited, received a £84,000 contract, while Breas Medical, owned by Fosun International through Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical, received a £98,000 contract with Hull hospitals. Egis said it had formally expressed disagreement with its inclusion in the UN database; Motorola Solutions and Fosun did not respond to Al Jazeera's requests.
