PALESTINE activists shut down the Leicester factory of Israeli drone supplier Elbit today, hours after the massacre at Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Baptist hospital.

Protesters from Palestine Action drove through barriers at the UAV Tactical Systems factory, which had been a site of demonstrations for the past two years against its £5 million annual exports of military drone technology to Israel.

The activists parked a van to prevent the site in Braunstone Town from closing its gates and climbed onto the roof of the vehicle, preventing the factory from operating.

They unfurled banners and Palestinian flags and covered the opening of the factory in red paint.

Protesters chanted “Sunak is the real criminal” and read out the family names of people killed in Gaza this week.

Palestine Action said in a statement: “The massacre at al-Ahli Arabi shows these demons for who they are — not that we didn’t already know.

“And all the while, the Western world is standing, not idly by, but firmly on the side of the genocidal Israeli regime as it seeks to make all Gazans either permanently displaced from Palestine or permanently dead.

“Those of us in this country who can see these crimes against humanity for what they are have the duty to defy the government and its complicity; to refuse contributions to these actions in our name by dismantling our land’s military ties to the occupation regime.

“How many more thousands of dead will it take before the people realise our moral responsibility to shut down Elbit, Thales, Rafael, and all the other companies operating here which make these horrors possible?”