Report: British Espionage in Gaza Skies on Behalf of Israel

The British site Declassified revealed that American and British spy planes have conducted sorties over the besieged Gaza Strip, as part of the targeting that the Palestinian territory has been facing amid a fierce Israeli war for 22 months. These sorties come at a time when the massacres committed by the occupation against the Palestinians are increasing.

The site added that some of these sorties, which take off from a British base in Cyprus, flew near the Al-Nuseirat camp before and during a massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation last December. Other sorties were conducted over a two-week period prior to a massacre that took place in June of last year.

The recent report from Declassified, which specializes in British politics and intelligence, renews accusations against the British government of its involvement in crimes of genocide through its support for the occupation in its war on Gaza. It mentions a reconnaissance flight that took off from a British base in Cyprus over the Al-Nuseirat camp just the night before a massacre committed by Israel that left 30 martyrs on December 12.

Two surveillance planes flew, one of which belonged to the American company Street Flight Nevada, and was a Beechcraft Super King Air 350, which left the British base the night before the bombing and flew for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, the other plane, a British Shadow R-1, flew in the afternoon of the same day as the bombing and coincided with the attack, remaining off the coast of Gaza for about half an hour.

The British authorities did not disclose the nature of the information exchanged with the occupation on that day or any other, only confirming that their sorties are part of efforts to search for Israeli captives. Since the start of the war, Britain has conducted more than 600 reconnaissance flights over the Gaza Strip according to an analysis by the London-based organization "Action Against Armed Violence."

The massacre on December 12 in Al-Nuseirat was not the only one preceded by British sorties, as the occupation also attacked the Al-Nuseirat camp on June 8, 2024, claiming to seek the liberation of four Israeli prisoners, resulting in a major massacre that left more than 270 Palestinian martyrs.

Declassified states that the two weeks leading up to the bombing saw the British Air Force conduct 24 sorties over or near Gaza, which were handed over to the Israeli army. The British newspaper "The Times" also reported last week that British spy planes continue their sorties over Gaza to assist the occupation in locating Israeli captives.

The newspaper quoted government sources confirming that the intelligence gathered from various British entities in the region, including the Royal Air Force, is handed over to the Israeli army to obtain real-time information about the prisoners. The British government does not deny this intelligence, having previously announced its support for the ongoing rescue efforts for the "captives."

Despite this, British-Israeli relations at the political level have reached their lowest point ever, after the Labour Party government imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers and announced that it would recognize a Palestinian state if Israel does not improve conditions in the Gaza Strip.

Since October 7, 2023, the occupying state, with American support, has been committing genocide in Gaza, including killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, ignoring all international calls and orders from the International Court of Justice to stop. The Israeli genocide has resulted in 61,599 Palestinian martyrs and 154,088 injured, most of whom are children and women, over 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and famine that has killed 222 people, including 101 children.