A UK-based Israeli advocacy group has been criticized for suggesting a decrease in obesity caused by the war in Gaza may increase life expectancy there.

The comments of British lawyers toward Israel (UKLFI) were condemned by the Palestinian Solidarity Movement (PSC) as "disgusting" amid warnings of an impending famine in Gaza.

UKLFI customers include former conservative leader Michael Howard and former Supreme Court judge John Dyson, who represents Boris Johnson and the late Queen.

The remarks were responded to a motion debated at the partnership group’s annual shareholder meeting by UKLFI CEO Jonathan Turner, calling on retailers to stop selling Israeli agricultural products.

Urgeing the co-op to withdraw the motion, Turner criticized the fact that the estimated death toll is 186,000. Turner wrote in a letter to the secretary of the cooperative group that cited this figure from a letter published last year by the Lancet, an expected character, a expected character.

He added: "The letter (the Lancet) also overlooks factors that may increase the average life expectancy in Gaza, remember that one of the biggest health problems in Gaza before the current war was obesity."

According to the territory's Health Bureau, the death toll has exceeded 52,000 since Israel began attacking Gaza after Hamas's attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Another study in The Lancet found that in the first 12 months of the war, life expectancy in Gaza was reduced by 34.9 years, half of the 75.5 years before the war (-46.3%).

PSC Director Ben Jamal said: “As children in the Gaza Strip face growing risks of hunger, disease and death, UK lawyers liable Israeli lawyers suggest that they may benefit from weight loss. These exclusionary comments fully illustrate the exact meaning of attitudes towards Israel and what the attitudes towards the defenders mean, and the efforts towards their defenders, putting them in a dilemma.

Arab-British Understanding Council Director Chris Doyle wrote on X that the comments represent “cruel perspectives.” "How great is Israel how much it is to raise obesity levels with a mandatory diet," he said.

The UKLFI complaint led Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London to cancel art displays of Palestinian children in 2023, after the group claimed it made Jewish patients feel “vulnerable, harassing and victimized”.

It also threatens legal action by the British government as it decides to export about 30 weapons to Israel's license.

Turner said: "We first point out that the letter published on the Lancet on July 20, 2024 clearly does not claim that the motion does not claim that 186,000 Gazans died in the current war. However, it does have no basis - no basis - 186,000 Gaza could eventually lead to the ultimate death of the war.

“We therefore point out that given the pre-war public health conditions, including the extent of obesity, these factors, including candy and cigarette availability, are likely to decrease, so we point out that this claim is based on completely unfounded speculation, which also ignores the factors that may contribute to Gaza’s life span.

“In the case of making them, our statements are accurate and objective.”