Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday condemned the UK government’s decision to suspend some arms export licenses to Israel, calling it “a shameful decision that will encourage a genocidal Hamas”.

Israel’s prime minister said his country is at war to protect Hamas’ British hostages as well, and vowed the UK’s measures would not prevent it from winning the conflict in Gaza.

Netanyahu wrote on X: “This shameful decision will not change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that brutally murdered 1,200 people on October 7, including 14 British citizens.”

He added: “Hamas is holding over 100 hostages, including 5 British citizens. Instead of standing by Israel, a friendly democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will simply embolden Hamas. Just as Britain’s heroic stand against the Nazis is now seen as vital to the defense of our common culture, so history will judge Israel’s stand against Hamas and Iran’s terror axis.”

“With or without British arms, Israel will win this war and will ensure our common future” the Israeli Prime Minister explained.

His remarks show a deep diplomatic rift is forming between Israel and the UK, the Guardian comments, although Britain has gone to great lengths to explain the decision as carefully considered and not amounting to a full embargo, let alone a step that would weakened Israel’s security.

Netanyahu is facing unprecedented pressure over accusations inside Israel that his intransigence over ceasefire negotiations indirectly led to the deaths of six Israeli hostages at the hands of Hamas.