UK carried out 200 spy missions over Gaza in support of Israel

The British Air Force carried out 200 spying missions over Gaza in support of Israel since December 2023, British political and intelligence website Declassified UK revealed.

“British spy planes have recorded up to 1,000 hours of footage over Gaza, including from the day Israel assassinated three UK aid workers,” Declassified UK added.

March saw the highest number of British spying missions over Gaza, with around 44 surveillance missions.

The spy planes took off from a British base in Cyprus, with each mission lasting around six hours.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated that there is a fundamental difference between the UK and the United States regarding arms deals to Israel. He emphasised that the UK will continue its own procedures for licensing arms sales to Israel, in contrast to the Biden administration’s decision to restrict arms shipments to Tel Aviv in response to the Rafah operations.

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Cameron’s assertions come in spite of leaked recordings which showed that the British government allegedly received legal advice from its lawyers that Israel is breaking international law.

Government’s lawyers said that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip but the government has failed to make it public, according to a recording obtained by the Observer newspaper in March.

The following month, it was revealed that during a hearing at the High Court, that the UK government has suspended legal assessments over whether Israel is breaching International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Trade Government lawyer James Eadie admitted to a “hiatus” in legal assessments of Israel’s compliance with IHL for reasons he “couldn’t go into,” stating that “decisions of some importance have been delayed for some time.”

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