Let’s look at what we know about the UK’s flights over Gaza, what we can tell from them, what has been claimed, and what they might signal about UK-Israel relations.

Since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas against Israel, and Israel’s subsequent military response in Gaza , the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has kept a close eye on ongoing events using RAF Akrotiri-based Shadow aircraft. The Shadow, based on the Beechcraft B350, carries electro-optical/infrared sensors, as well as communications and electronics intelligence gathering equipment. Towards the end of July, the Shadow fleet at Akrotiri was reduced and some sorties taken over by privately contracted aircraft. For the purposes of this article, all references to the flights include both RAF and contracted missions. Content

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