Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to continue pressing for an inquiry into Britain's possible complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza after the UK government rejected his renewed calls for an investigation, the former Labour leader told The New Arab.
Corbyn, who now represents Islington North for Your Party, is seeking an independent public inquiry into Britain's military, economic and political cooperation with Israel since October 2023, including arms supplies, surveillance flights and the use of Royal Air Force (RAF) bases.
The former Labour leader first introduced the Gaza (Independent Public Inquiry) Bill in June 2025 before reintroducing the legislation in the 2026–27 parliamentary session. The latest version was published on 2 September and is awaiting its second reading.
However, the government has resisted calls to establish an inquiry, arguing that its policies and actions relating to Gaza have already undergone extensive parliamentary scrutiny.
"The UK's policy and actions relating to the conflict in Gaza have been subject of extensive parliamentary scrutiny through ministerial statements, debates, Select Committee scrutiny, and oral and written Parliamentary Questions," Middle East Minister Stephen Doughty said in a written response to Corbyn's request.
The refusal comes despite hopes that Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government would take a different approach after he apologised for his predecessor Keir Starmer's words and actions regarding Israel's genocide in Gaza.
"We're not going away, we're not giving up because I think this cause is far too important and far too great," Corbyn told The New Arab.
Corbyn said an inquiry could answer questions about Britain's supply of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel and RAF reconnaissance flights over Gaza.
UK companies manufacture around 15% of the components used in F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has deployed in its assault on Gaza, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade.
Between December 2023 and July 2025, the RAF conducted more than 600 reconnaissance flights over Gaza, according to Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).
The Ministry of Defence maintained that the flights were conducted "solely to locate hostages", though AOAV questioned whether their scale and persistence were consistent with humanitarian aims.
"We do need a very profound apology to the Palestinian people for the way in which the British government has maintained a supply of arms and military corporation with Israeli Defence Force throughout this whole horrific period, particularly since October 2023," Corbyn said.
In 2016, while Labour leader, Corbyn apologised for the Labour Party's role in the Iraq War following the publication of the Chilcot inquiry's findings.
The inquiry found that Saddam Hussein did not pose an imminent threat to Britain at the time of the 2003 invasion and that intelligence about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction had been presented with unjustified certainty.
Corbyn was among the Labour MPs who opposed the Iraq War and subsequently pushed for an inquiry into Britain's role in the invasion and its aftermath, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to various estimates.
"One day the British Prime Minister will say we need an inquiry. I hope it's soon," Corbyn told The New Arab.