Corporate leadership is assessing visual documentation to determine whether equipment delivered to the Israeli defense ministry breached strict civilian-use covenants. The controversy centers on a newly uncovered $49.8 million procurement deal finalized in 2024 that categorizes the industrial vehicles under operational armed services budgets. Toyota Material Handling confirmed it is prepared to intervene if the equipment was improperly deployed in combat or logistics support. The multi-year machinery deal runs through 2026 and potentially covers hundreds of heavy units.
Key points
Toyota Material Handling maintains strict civil-use agreements and pledged to take action…: Toyota Material Handling maintains strict civil-use agreements and pledged to take action if unauthorized deployment occurred.
Formal investigations were triggered after financial records revealed a previously undisc…: Formal investigations were triggered after financial records revealed a previously undisclosed multi-million-dollar defense procurement contract.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense declined to provide comment regarding the forklift acquis…: The Israeli Ministry of Defense declined to provide comment regarding the forklift acquisitions or their operational use.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
Toyota has said it is investigating the use of its forklifts by the Israeli military after Middle East Eye found photos and videos of the vehicles at weapons and munitions storage sites, serving supply lines for frontline units, and being used by the army’s Logistics Corps.
It comes after MEE uncovered details of a previously unreported 158m-shekel ($49.8m) contract between Toyota and Israel’s Ministry of Defense for the supply of forklifts that was signed in 2024 – the first full year of the Gaza war.
Toyota says that its vehicles are not intended for military use.
When asked about the contract, the company told MEE it had commitments in place with both the defence ministry and its official reseller in Israel to ensure that its technology and products were “for civil use only”.
But when MEE then shared footage posted on official Israeli military social media channels, which showed Toyota forklifts being used at locations including a missiles and ammunition depot in northern Israel, a Logistics Corps training base, and inside a munitions factory, it said it was investigating the…
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