Activists have blocked the entrance to a weapons manufacturer in protest against the war in Gaza.

Dozens of people have gathered outside the L3Harris factory in Moulsecoomb, Brighton, holding banners that read “Free Palestine”, “ceasefire now” and “no bombs from Brighton”.

Campaign group Brighton Against The Arms Trade claims L3Harris parts developed and manufactured in Brighton are used by “Israeli pilots to drop their bombs on the Palestinian people of Gaza who have no way to escape”.

Other similar protests have been reported across the country.

Campaigners in Scotland have also blockaded a defence company’s shipyard in Glasgow in protest over its ties to Israel.

The blockade at the entrances to the BAE Systems site in Govan, Glasgow, has been organised by a local group in coordination with Workers for a Free Palestine.

Meanwhile, more than 600 trade unionists have shut down an arms factory in Bournemouth.

The latest protests follow another demonstration last week, which saw over one hundred people blockade the road and gates to the arms factory in Brighton.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and carried placards which said “stop arming Israel”.

More than 16,200 people have been killed in the conflict, with some 80 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people forcibly displaced into increasingly smaller areas.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe in the region as the war enters its third month.

He said: “The international community has a responsibility to use all its influence to prevent further escalation and end this crisis.”

Mr Guterres also denounced the “abhorrent acts of terror” and the killing of more than 1,200 people in Israel by Hamas militants on October 7 and urged the immediate release of more than 130 people still held captive in Gaza.

However, he added: “Amid constant bombardment by the Israeli Defence Forces, and without shelter or the essentials to survive, I expect public order to completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions, rendering even limited humanitarian assistance impossible.”

L3Harris has been approached for comment.