[News] Maersk is still shipping weapons parts to Israel despite denial, new PYM report says

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/maersk-still-shipping-weapons-parts-israel-despite-denial-last-year-report-says>
Maersk is still shipping weapons parts to Israel despite denial, new report
says
Yasmine El-Sabawi
June 8, 2026
------------------------------
[image: image.png]

Banners hung by protesters in front of the headquarters of Danish shipping
giant Maersk accuse the company of aiding Israel's genocide in Gaza, in
Copenhagen, Denmark, on 24 February 2025 (Martin Sylvest and Ritzau
Scanpix/AFP)

Danish shipping giant Maersk is still shipping smaller weapons components
to Israel <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> that include
rifle and pistol parts, as well as bomb bodies, despite its assertion to
the contrary last year, according to a report
<http://maskoffmaersk.com/s/Bullets_Bombs_Mortars.pdf> published on Monday
by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Oxfam Denmark.

The bullet parts Maersk has reportedly helped to deliver are the same kind
that killed Hind Rajab
<https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-hind-rajab>
in 2024 and also countless other children in Gaza
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-war-gaza>, as shown in a New
York Times essay published
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/09/opinion/gaza-doctor-interviews.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SU4._ijT.fovwgOmGe3IL>
later that year, the authors of the report said.

The bomb bodies provide the casing for the 900-kilogram "bunker buster"
MK-84 bombs that Israel has used in Gaza and Lebanon
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/lebanon>.

The investigation is part of the #MaskOffMaersk campaign
<https://www.maskoffmaersk.com/>.

"Our question to Maersk is: What's a weapon? You don't ship weapons, so
what is a weapon?" Nadya Tannous, the international coordinator for the
initiative, told Middle East Eye.

"Their actual practice is to completely ignore the policies that they have
on the books."

Using shipping records and bills of lading, the report's authors point to a
sustained supply of the weapons components to Elbit Systems - Israel's
largest weapons producer - via Maersk vessels from nine US companies, and
one Indian company.

IMI Systems, formerly Israel's state-owned military producer, is also
listed as a key recipient, though Elbit acquired the company in 2018.

The report identifies more than 1.42 million kilograms of bullet cores and
brass case cups transported from New York's Aurubis Buffalo, Missouri's
Sierra Bullets, and Michigan's Michigan Rod Products to IMI between October
2023 and July 2025.

'Their actual practice is to completely ignore the policies that they have
on the books'

*- Nadya Tannous, #MaskOffMaersk campaign*

These components make up the cartridge cases for rifles, particularly the 5.56
mm and 7.62 mm <https://www.americanfirearms.org/5-56-vs-7-62-a-comparison/>
.

Maersk has also transported to Israel parts from Texas' General Dynamics,
which is named as the supplier of the MK-84 bomb casings, and South
Carolina's Elbit Systems of America, which is named as the supplier of
the MPR-series bomb - a 230-kilogram "general purpose" surface attack bomb,
the report shows.

Mortar systems - one of the most commonly used weapons in warfare where
projectiles are launched through an upward-facing tube on the ground - also
made their way to Israel via Maersk from Texas' Trinity Forge,
Pennsylvania's Ellwood National Forge, Michigan's Laser Access, and the US
military manufacturer, International Parts Supply, the report said.

India's Sri Kaliswari Metal Powders is responsible for supplying aluminium
powder for explosives to Israel, also via Maersk, the report added.

MEE reached out to Maersk for a response to the claims in the report, to
which the company responded: "From the outset of the conflict, we have
maintained a strict policy of not shipping weapons or ammunition to Israel."

"As the conflict escalated, we have further enhanced our screening and
acceptance procedures and implemented additional compliance measures," it
added. "Our compliance processes for military-related cargo are based on
EU, US, and Danish laws including the Wassenaar Arrangement, the EU's
common military list and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations as
well as UN resolutions."
'Complicity'

Elbit Systems provides
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-cambridge-trinity-college-investments-israel-war-gaza>
around
85 percent of Israel’s drones and land-based military equipment, and has
played a major role in supplying Israel with weaponry for its genocide in
Gaza, where at least 72,980 have been killed and 173,171 wounded, according
to the health ministry in the enclave.

The defence firm, which has around 20,000 staff and revenues of $2bn, has
been a regular target of pro-Palestinian activists in the UK over its links
to Israel.

Last year a report
<https://www.un.org/unispal/document/a-hrc-59-23-from-economy-of-occupation-to-economy-of-genocide-report-special-rapporteur-francesca-albanese-palestine-2025/>
by
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestine,
said that “for Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems… the ongoing
genocide has been a profitable venture”.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/activists-leicester-break-factory-owned-israeli-firm-elbit-systems>

Activists break into Leicester factory owned by Israeli firm Elbit Systems

Read More »
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/activists-leicester-break-factory-owned-israeli-firm-elbit-systems>

While the PYM-Oxfam Denmark report says it does "not call for a boycott of
Israel", Tannous told MEE their campaign is calling for a boycott of Maersk.

"We don't want policy statements, we want material change from the
company," she said.

"This campaign is part of a larger nexus of accountability for the Israeli
government and the Israeli military. It falls within the corporate
accountability campaign for those corporations that facilitated the
genocide."

The report demands that Maersk immediately halt its small arms shipments to
Israel, that it conduct thorough human rights evaluations across its
operations, and that it end all activities in support of Israeli military
activity, "or else risk complicity in Israel’s Genocide in Gaza".

The targeting of the shipping giant isn't new.

It has been the subject of repeated protests outside its Copenhagen
headquarters throughout the last two years, and most recently, last month
<https://www.jfeed.com/news-world/copenhagen-anti-israel-protest>, over its
role in providing supplies to Israel for its wars on seven fronts in the
region.

In May 2024, Spain banned the use
<https://maritime-executive.com/article/activists-demand-spain-stop-port-calls-of-maersk-line-ships-carrying-arms>
of its ports for military cargo to Israel.

"Maersk is everywhere, right? They're in every port, for the most part,
they use our roads, they use our bridges, they use our public
infrastructure," Tannous said.

"What does it mean for us as people of conscience around the world, who
majority understand and know that this genocide is ongoing, it's wrong...
to not lose hope in terms of being able to actually affect change for those
in power? We demand accountability. There are many methods to do that, and
we hope that this report is one of the ways of offering really valuable and
precise information."
Maersk

In March 2025, Maersk's CEO told shareholders
<https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-846601> that weapons are never
transported to active conflict zones, but that other military cargo is
permitted. He did not explain the precise difference.

Maersk is not known to have re-evaluated its transportation of essential
components of F-35 fighter planes to Israel, which have been used to
flatten Gaza since Israel began its assault after the 7 October 2023
Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/maersk-cuts-ties-companies-operating-israeli-settlements>

Shipping giant Maersk cuts ties with companies operating in Israeli
settlements

Read More »
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/maersk-cuts-ties-companies-operating-israeli-settlements>

It only said in a July 2025 statement
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/maersk-cuts-ties-companies-operating-israeli-settlements>
that "the full F-35 supply chain is ultimately managed and controlled by
[a] coalition of partner countries", which is an argument that formed the
basis for the Palestinian Youth Movement's report on Canada's role in
weapons
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/canada-never-stopped-arming-israel-despite-pledge-halt-new-permits-report-shows>
exports to Israel last year.

In that same statement, however, Maersk announced
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/maersk-cuts-ties-companies-operating-israeli-settlements>
it was reassessing its work with companies linked to illegal Israeli
settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The decision followed months of sustained pressure from pro-Palestine
activists who have demanded the behemoth shipping and logistics company cut
ties with companies profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestine.

Maersk insisted that it already "follows international standards for
responsible business practices".

The company emphasised it was reviewing its operations in the occupied West
Bank, and would follow the guidelines of the United Nations high
commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) as needed.

The OHCHR, mandated to compile a list of businesses that both operate and
sustain Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, released a database
<https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/regular-sessions/session31/database-hrc3136>
in
2020 naming more than 100 companies contributing to human rights abuses of
Palestinians.

At the same time, and in the same statement, Maersk slammed Albanese for
her report
<https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/forever-occupation-genocide-and-profit-special-rapporteurs-report-exposes>
on companies linked to war crimes and human rights abuses in Palestine,
calling it a document compiled with "input from third-party sources that
have not been validated or verified".
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