THE UK Government has confirmed that it will share information gathered from spy plane flights over Gaza with the Israeli military – even after ending trade talks with the country and describing its government as “extremists”.
However, the Labour administration said information would only be shared if it was deemed relevant to securing the release of hostages held by Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
The news comes after The National reported on how the UK Government sent a Shadow R1 spy plane – coded RFR7144 – from the Cyprus base RAF Akrotiri to monitor Gaza just hours after Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Israel’s actions in the strip as “monstrous”.
The RAF describe Shadow R1 planes as being capable of “comprehensive intelligence gathering” that is “particularly valuable to ground commanders”.
In June 2024, the UK Defence Journal reported that the RAF had conducted more than 250 surveillance flights near Gaza since December 3, 2023. The outlet said that RFR7145, another Shadow R1, had been “leading the operations”.
Asked about the UK military supporting Israel’s, even after the Foreign Secretary described that country’s government as “extremists”, the Foreign Office declined to comment.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “Since early December 2023, the Royal Air Force 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.”
At 2.28pm yesterday, David Lammy told parliament the UK was suspending trade negotiations with Israel given the "appalling" situation in Gaza. 4.5 hours later, at 7pm UK time, another UK spy plane took off in aid of Israeli intelligence to surveil Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Vlwo5rAyUD
— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) May 21, 2025
Labour have ramped up their rhetoric on Israel in recent days, with Foreign Secretary Lammy saying of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank: “We must call this what it is. It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
However, Lammy later confirmed that the UK Government was continuing the send parts for F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has used in Gaza, to the country.
“[Weapons] are not being given to Israel for use in Gaza at this time … save for the carve-out we made for F-35s,” the Foreign Secretary told MPs on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to SNP MP Kirsty Blackman on why Labour are sending fighter jet parts to Israel by saying that they could not block the exports without jeopardising UK military operations elsewhere.
Elsewhere, UK Government figures have shown that Labour licensed the export of around £130 million in military equipment to Israel in the final three months of 2024 – after they suspended 30 of around 350 weapons export licences to the country.
The total was more than the Tories had licensed for export to Israel between 2020-2023 combined, but Lammy dismissed the figures as “clickbait”.
