UK spy planes conduct surveillance flights over Gaza to locate hostages

The British Defense Ministry hasn’t disclosed which aircraft are currently being used to help find the hostages, after the Shadow R1 used in other operations was sent to Britain.

The UK’s government has been helping Israel with finding the hostages by flying Royal Air Force (RAF) planes over Gaza, British officials told the newspaper The Times.

The paper noted that these operations have been made since the beginning of the war with Hamas, with multiple reconnaissance planes being flown over Gaza after taking off from Cyprus.

The British Defense Ministry hasn’t disclosed which aircraft are currently being used to help find the hostages, while Flight tracking data showed Shadow R1s have flown hundreds of missions over Gaza.

These planes, specialized in surveillance and reconnaissance, aren’t currently stationed at the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, with a military source confirming to The Times that they had returned to Britain.

The Defense Ministry confirmed to the site that these missions were “still ongoing” even despite an apparent lack of Shadow surveillance flights.

Israeli-British relations are at an all-time low

The report comes out after a series of decisions by the Labour-led British government, mainly the announcement that it would recognise a Palestinian state if Israel didn’t fight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and strained relations between the UK and Israel.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the UK Cabinet that the UK will recognize a Palestinian state in September, unless the Israeli government takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza.”

Even in this context, the RAF has maintained its surveillance missions over the Gaza Strip. According to a Defense Ministry source, they are only sharing information that could help locate the hostages.