THE UK Government is continuing to send spy flights over Gaza and share intelligence it gathers with Israel – despite David Lammy's claims to the contrary.
In July, the Foreign Secretary insisted that the UK Government was not "assisting" in Israel's brutal assault on Gaza and "would never do that", when asked about the surveillance missions.
Lammy explicitly stated the UK was not sharing intelligence with Israel.
During an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, Lammy was asked: “What support is being given to the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Defence Forces militarily by the UK? For example, RAF flights, which overfly Gaza. Is information from those flights being given to the Israeli military to help them conduct their war in Gaza?”
He replied: "No."
Lammy responded: “We are not assisting and it would be quite wrong for the British Government to assist in the prosecution of this war in Gaza, we are not doing that and would and would never do that.”
However, UK Government sources have since confirmed to the Times that it is continuing to send spy flights over the besieged enclave and that the intelligence it gathers is being shared with Israel.
Sources told the paper that "intelligence gathered by undisclosed RAF aircraft and other British assets in the region is being handed over to the Israeli military so it has up-to-date information".
The National has previously reported on the spy flights, which are conducted by Shadow R1 planes and have taken off from the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus since December 2023.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has previously insisted that the data it gathers from the hundreds of flights which it has sent over Gaza is used purely in support of "hostage rescue".
The Shadow is flown by 14 Squadron, which is based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire.
While there appear to have been an apparent lack of surveillance flights from the Shadow R1s in recent days, the MoD has confirmed that they are "still ongoing".
An RAF source told the Times that they understood the Shadow aircraft had returned to the UK – with flight tracking data suggesting this took place on July 29 – but was unsure of which aircraft was now undertaking the surveillance activities.
Independent journalist Matt Kennard, who has done previous investigations on the spy planes, claimed a US leasing company had taken over the flights from RAF Akrotiri.
BREAKING: Gaza spy flights from UK base on Cyprus secretly shift to plane leased by company with billions in US military contracts New flights are on blocked list, but we tracked US plane over Gaza on 28 July when pilot forgot to turn off transponder for 1st time in 20 months👇 pic.twitter.com/PR1YHh5AcM
— Matt Kennard (@kennardmatt) August 4, 2025
The MoD is yet to confirm whether it is currently paying private contractors for the use of their aircraft for the missions.
An MoD spokesperson told the Times: “Since early December 2023, the RAF has routinely conducted unarmed surveillance flights over Gaza for the sole purpose of locating hostages.
"The UK controls what information is passed to Israeli authorities and only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authority.
“We do not comment on operational detail for security reasons.”
The National has also contacted the UK Government for comment.
