France's defense minister on Tuesday, March 26, denied allegations from investigative journalists that France supplied components for ammunition used by the Israeli army in its Gaza campaign.

According to the article, published online on Monday, Marseille-based firm Eurolinks had sold Israel M27 links, metal pieces used to join rifle cartridges into ammunition belts for machine guns, investigative websites Disclose and Marsactu wrote. Such ammunition "could have been used against civilians in the Gaza strip," they claimed. At the time of the minister's speech, Le Monde had not been able to verify this information, which concerns some 100,000 parts.

The investigative outlets' reporting was supported by photos of the links which they said were taken on October 23, weeks after Hamas' bloody October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the intense Gaza fighting.

French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu, meanwhile, told reporters in Paris that Eurolinks' license to export to Israeli firm IMI Systems "only covers re-export to third countries" rather than use by the Israeli army.

Left-wing lawmakers have called for France to follow Canada's example and stop all arms exports to Israel. MP Mathilde Panot, leader of the La France Insoumise (LFI) opposition party's parliamentary group, described the exports as a "massive scandal," accusing Lecornu of "lying" in a recent parliamentary hearing.

The minister told the Assemblée Nationale's defense committee last month that France's policy on arms for Israel was "irreproachable," with recent deliveries covering items like "ball bearings, glass, cooling systems" and sensors. "In general, these are arms planned to be re-exported from Israel to other customers," he added at the time.

Lecornu said he had ordered civil servants to be "even stricter" in examining exports to Israel since October 7. However, France did issue licenses for parts for Israel's "Iron Dome" missile defence system, he acknowledged.