London, UK: The UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) has stated that the country will conduct unarmed surveillance flights over the Middle East to search for Hamas hostage locations.
MoD officials commented that a range of unarmed aircraft, including intelligence-gathering Shadow R1s, will be utilized for the reconnaissance flights.
According to reports, information on the potential whereabouts of captives will be shared with Israel.
In a statement, the MoD pointed out that, “The safety of British nationals is our utmost priority. In support of the ongoing hostage rescue activity, the UK Ministry of Defense will conduct surveillance flights over the Eastern Mediterranean, including operating in airspace over Israel and Gaza.”
“Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages. Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue,” MoD added.
Fighting resumed on Friday following a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas despite more than 130 hostages remaining in captivity in the Gaza Strip. The Israel Défense Forces (IDF) said it had hit more than 400 Hamas targets on the first day.
Israel also accused Hamas of violating the terms of the truce and firing towards Israeli territory. There has been increasing international pressure for the truce to be extended to secure the release of as many hostages as possible from the Gaza Strip, nearly two months after a devastating war broke out when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
The UK government declared armed forces would be sent to the eastern Mediterranean “to support Israel, reinforce regional stability, and prevent escalation” one week after the early October attack.
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