UK sends spy plane over Gaza hours after attacking Israel's actions
On Tuesday afternoon, Lammy also described Benjamin Netanyahu's government as 'extremists' as he announced that Labour had ended talks towards a free trade deal with the country.
Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely was also summoned to the Foreign Office to be admonished as part of the measures the UK Government is taking in response to the bombardment of Gaza, the 11-week blockade of aid which sparked a near-famine, and unfolding plans to ethnically cleanse the territory.
READ MORE: The UK now officially admits it's arming Israeli extremists – but won't stop
But despite the ramped-up action on Israel, Lammy said that the UK Government would continue to supply F-35 parts 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 at around 3.30pm UK time.
Around three-and-a-half hours later, at 7pm UK time and 9pm in Gaza, the UK's Cyprus base RAF Akrotiri sent a spy plane to surveil the Palestinian region.
Publicly available flight data shows that a Shadow R1 – a plane described by the RAF as capable of 'comprehensive intelligence gathering' that is 'particularly valuable to ground commanders' – flew towards Gaza before information transponders were cut off.
At 7pm last night, Labour sent a UK spy plane over Gaza to collect intel for Israel
Just hours after Labour announced suspension of trade talks
If you collect intel for a genocidal power over territory they are attacking you are a participant
UK ministers need to be arrested pic.twitter.com/84CnKogxaK — Matt Kennard (@kennardmatt) May 21, 2025
Journalist Matt Kennard shared the flight path, writing: "At 7pm last night, Labour sent a UK spy plane over Gaza to collect intel for Israel. Just hours after Labour announced suspension of trade talks.
"If you collect intel for a genocidal power over territory they are attacking you are a participant. UK ministers need to be arrested."
The identity code of the Shadow R1 – RFR7144 – has previously been reported as used in the UK's surveillance operations of the Palestinian region.
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 reported that RFR7145, another Shadow R1, had been 'leading the operations'.
READ MORE: I was in the IDF – now I'm a pro-Palestine activist in the Highlands
Last month, the UK Government admitted that it holds footage from a RAF spy plane that was flying over Gaza as a group of aid workers were killed by the Israeli military in April 2024 – but refused to release it.
The Labour Government has been pushed on its use of RAF Akrotiri in the past, with suggestions that it has been used as a stopover to allow the delivery of US weapons to Israel, as well as aiding Israel with surveillance of Palestine.
Earlier this month, figures published by the UK Government showed that Labour licensed the export of more military equipment to Israel in the final three months of 2024 than the Tories had for all of 2020-2023 combined.
Challenged on those figures in the Commons, Lammy suggested the story was 'clickbait'.
The Foreign Office declined to comment on the spy plane.
The Ministry of Defence has also been approached.
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