A decision to divest Devon County Council (DCC) of millions of pounds from companies that are selling arms to Israel has been deferred until later this year.

According to campaigners, DCC’s pension fund has invested £84 million in firms selling weapons to Israel, including Rolls Royce Holdings (£1.9m), Barclays Bank (£12.8m), BAE Systems (£4.9m), and Babcock (£360,850).

Campaigners believe that stopping the funding will put pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire.

Totnes councillors Jacqi Hodgson and Tobias Robshaw, who tabled a motion in support of the move, handed a petition containing some 1,200 signatures at last week’s council meeting, urging DCC to withdraw its investments in response to the “tragic loss of over 20,000 children in Gaza”.

But councillors voted to refer the motion to the DCC Investment and Pension Fund committee’s meeting in December for consideration, which will “likely be referred back” to the council for a decision, according to Cllr Hodgson.

A spokesperson for DCC questioned the figure of £84 million, however, saying it dated back to 2021, and that the combined amount now invested in four companies – Boeing, BAE Systems, General Dynamics and Ametek - was £3.7 million as of March 31 this year.

It was not made clear why Rolls Royce Holdings, Barclays Bank and Babcock had not been included in the assessment.

A statement from DCC also said that the companies it named were not involved in selling controversial arms such as biological and chemical weapons, cluster munitions, or anti-personnel landmines.

However, both BAE systems and Rolls Royce Holdings are involved in the manufacture of the F-35 fighter, which has been used by Israel to bomb the strip.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have so far been killed as a result of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The current conflict started last October, when Hamas militants attacked Israel and killed hundreds of civilians.

Earlier this year the International Criminal Court (ICC) called for the arrest of both Israel and Hamas leaders over their conduct in the conflict. And in July the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank as unlawful.