In a recent statement, the UK government indicated that it is open to providing intelligence collected from its surveillance flights over Gaza to the International Criminal Court (ICC), should such a request be made. The ICC is currently investigating alleged war crimes involving both Hamas and Israel.
Since December of last year, the Royal Air Force (RAF) has conducted hundreds of surveillance flights over Gaza, utilizing Shadow R1 spy planes launched from bases in Cyprus. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) clarified that these operations primarily aimed to gather intelligence on hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. However, the MoD has also expressed a willingness to share relevant intelligence related to war crimes with the ICC.
Notably, the Ministry has refuted claims suggesting that it is supplying broader targeting information to Israel or that RAF aircraft are being used to transport weapons into Israel during the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
In their statement, the MoD emphasized, “In line with our international obligations, we would consider any formal request from the International Criminal Court to provide information relating to investigations into war crimes. The UK is not a participant in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Our mandate is narrowly defined to focus on securing the release of the hostages only, including British nationals, with the RAF routinely conducting unarmed flights since December 2023 for this sole purpose.”
As of now, there has been no formal request from the ICC.
