Britain’s near-daily surveillance flights over Gaza, flown from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, have prompted fresh questions about how the intelligence gathered is used and whether it is being passed to the Israel military.

According to The Guardian, specialist flight trackers estimate that RAF Shadow aircraft have carried out more than 600 flights over the Palestinian territory since December 2023, initially at a rate of about two a day and more recently closer to one a day. The operations began under the previous Conservative government and have continued under Labour.

In late July the defence ministry reportedly transferred surveillance work to US contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation, partly to reduce costs. A technical error on July 28, when an aircraft’s transponder was not fully turned off, exposed that the plane had been circling over Khan Younis, contradicting previous indications that flights remained adjacent to Gaza rather than directly above it.

Defence sources say the flights have been used to try to locate the remaining hostages taken by Hamas, with RAF Shadows capable of optical surveillance by day and night. Critics warn that if UK-sourced intelligence is passed to Israel and used for military operations, this could raise serious legal and ethical questions.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the continued military cooperation with Israel as “utterly indefensible”, while Liberal Democrat defence spokeswoman Helen Maguire urged the government to set out what steps it has taken to prevent UK intelligence being used for offensive operations. 

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said the government is not “assisting in the prosecution of this war Gaza” and that it would be wrong to do so. The defence ministry has said the flights are unarmed and aimed at locating hostages, and that it controls what information is shared with Israel authorities, critics remain unconvinced and are calling for greater transparency and parliamentary scrutiny.

The Guardian said the use of RAF Akrotiri, on Cypriot territory, to launch these missions places the issue close to home for Cypriots and has already fuelled debate about the island’s role as a regional military hub.

Calls for clearer oversight of the flights and for public answers on how UK intelligence is handled are likely to persist as long as the surveillance continues. The UK defence ministry and the attorney-general’s office have declined to provide further detail beyond their public statements.