The U.K. military has relied on U.S. contractors to carry out spy flights over Gaza on behalf of Israel because of a lack of available British aircraft, a report said Thursday.
The U.K. government acknowledged this year that it conducts such flights over the war-ravaged Palestinian territory but claimed they were "solely in support of hostage rescue."
The spy flights appear increasingly at odds with the U.K. government's growing public frustration with Israel over its atrocities in Gaza, and increasing international demands for a cease-fire.
Last week, Britain announced it would formally recognize a Palestinian state if steps, including a cease-fire were not taken by mid-September.
It has suggested the flights are part of its response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Israel.
Out of 251 hostages captured during the attacks, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 that the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's attacks have killed more than 60,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities, and turned Gaza, one of the world’s most densely populated areas, into a sea of ruins, with many feared buried beneath the rubble.
A global hunger monitor has said a famine scenario is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with starvation spreading, children under 5 dying of hunger-related causes, and humanitarian access to the embattled enclave severely restricted.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) had been using its Shadow R1 reconnaissance aircraft to film over Gaza, but turned to a U.S. firm after the planes were reassigned or needed maintenance, The Times reported on Thursday.
The Nevada-based company being used is a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation, one of the world's largest military contractors, the newspaper said.
It is likely to be seen as further evidence that Britain's military has been pared back too drastically over recent decades, primarily due to budget pressures.
Relying on private sector contractors, which use an RAF base on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean, can have pitfalls.
The flight path of a U.S.-operated sortie last month over the largely destroyed Gaza city of Khan Younis became public following what The Times called a "schoolboy" error.
It said the plane's transponder had not been fully turned off, which meant it could be identified on flight-tracking websites and platforms as flying over southern Gaza.
The U.K. Defense Ministry declined to comment, citing the need to protect operational security around intelligence matters.
It suggested that Britain conducts surveillance flights over Gaza to help Israel locate hostages and only pass on intelligence related to that.
In March, armed forces secretary Luke Pollard told MPs, "these flights are solely in support of hostage rescue."
"We will pass information only if we are satisfied that it will be used in accordance with international humanitarian law."
