UK to start Gaza surveillance flights to help find hostages

Britain’s military will conduct surveillance flights over Gaza to help find hostages held by Hamas since its October 7 attack on Israel.

Palestinians stand on the edge of a crater after an Israeli strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. Picture: AFP

Britain’s military will conduct surveillance flights over Gaza to help find hostages held by Hamas since its October 7 attack on Israel.

The UK has said at least 12 British nationals were killed in the attacks and that a further five are still missing. But it has not confirmed how many are being held by Hamas.

Hamas denounced the planned flights and “the participation by the British military in the genocidal war against the Palestinian people”.

“We call on Britain to reconsider” its decision, it said.

London did not reveal when its military surveillance flights would start but stressed they would be unarmed and focused only on hostage recovery efforts.

“Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages,” the defence ministry said.

“Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue.”

Alongside the US, the UK in October deployed various military assets to the eastern Mediterranean to deter “any malign interference in the conflict”.

That included maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft as well as a Royal Navy task group moving to the region, the defence ministry said at the time.

AFP