The UK’s military will conduct surveillance flights over Gaza to locate hostages held by Hamas since its October 7 attack on Israel, the UK defence ministry announced over the weekend.
According to Israeli authorities, Hamas fighters kidnapped over 240 Israelis and foreign hostages. Around 110 people have been released since then, mostly during a recent week-long truce.
Israel’s military claimed on Friday that combat in the beleaguered Palestinian territory has restarted, blaming Hamas. The restart of fighting has dashed hopes for the quick release of the more than 130 Israeli detainees currently held in Gaza.
The United Kingdom has confirmed that at least 12 British nationals were killed in the October 7 attacks, which Israeli officials believe killed nearly 1,200 people, predominantly civilians, and that five more are still missing.
However, it has not been confirmed how many people are being held by Hamas.
According to the Hamas authorities in Gaza, Israel responded to the October 7 attack by threatening to exterminate the group, and its subsequent relentless air and ground campaign has killed more than 15,000 people.
London did not say when its military surveillance flights over the zone would begin, but it did say they would be unarmed and only focused on hostage rescue efforts.
In a statement, the ministry stated, “In support of the ongoing hostage rescue activity, the UK Ministry of Defence will conduct surveillance flights over the Eastern Mediterranean, including operating in air space over Israel and Gaza”.
“Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages”, the statement continued.
It went on to say, “Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue”.
On Sunday, UK government minister Victoria Atkins stated that the aircraft will be unarmed and unmanned drones.
Along with the US, the UK sent various military assets to the eastern Mediterranean in October to deter any malign interference in the conflict.
The Defence Ministry stated at the time that this comprised marine patrol and surveillance aircraft as well as a Royal Navy task force moving to the region.
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