UK to conduct surveillance flights over Gaza: Defence ministry

The UK's military will conduct surveillance flights over Gaza to help locate hostages held by Palestinian resistance group Hamas since its October 7 attack on Israel, Britain's defence ministry confirmed.

Hamas fighters seized around 240 Israelis and foreign hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Around 110 have since been freed, mainly during a recent week-long prisoner swap and temporary truce deal.

Israel's military said on Friday it had resumed fighting in the besieged Palestinian territory. The resumption of combat has frustrated hopes for the swift release of the more than 130 hostages the Israeli army has said are still being held in Gaza.

The UK has said at least 12 British nationals were killed in the October 7 attacks in which Israeli officials say about 1,200 people died and that a further five are still missing.

But it has not confirmed how many are being held by Hamas.

Israel responded to the October 7 attack by vowing to eliminate the Palestinian resistance group and its subsequent relentless air and ground campaign has killed more than 15,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas governmental authorities who run Gaza.

London did not reveal when its military surveillance flights over the territory would start but stressed they would be unarmed and focused only on hostage recovery efforts.

'No combat role'

"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," it said in a statement.

"Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages," the ministry added.

"Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue."

UK government minister Victoria Atkins told the BBC on Sunday that the aircraft to be utilised were "unarmed and unmanned drones".

Alongside the United States, the UK in October deployed various military assets to the eastern Mediterranean to deter "any malign interference in the conflict".

That included maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft as well as a Royal Navy task group moving to the region, the defence ministry said at the time.