More than 500 British spy flights have reportedly swept over the skies of Gaza since December 2023, casting a long shadow of complicity over the UK’s role in the ongoing devastation. While framed as efforts to locate hostages, the scale, duration, and timing of these Royal Air Force surveillance missions have triggered growing alarm among human rights advocates and members of Parliament.

According to investigations by Declassified UK, Shadow R1 reconnaissance aircraft have flown almost daily from Britain’s Akrotiri base in Cyprus, even during ceasefires, gathering high-resolution intelligence in a war zone where civilians are dying in staggering numbers. The concern is not merely technical; it's deeply moral. Some of these flights reportedly coincided with Israeli strikes that killed British aid workers, raising painful questions about the nature and use of the information collected.

Though the British government insists its intentions are humanitarian, legal experts warn that any data shared with the Israeli military could make the UK complicit in war crimes. Britain’s role doesn’t end at surveillance: its involvement in manufacturing parts for F-35 jets, used extensively in Gaza bombings, further deepens the ethical quagmire.

Calls are now mounting for a full-scale public inquiry, reminiscent of the Chilcot investigation into the Iraq War. With legal petitions dismissed and parliamentary oversight lacking, Palestinians see in these flights not neutrality, but active support for a military campaign that has levelled neighbourhoods and filled mass graves. As Gaza suffers, Britain's silence and surveillance speak volumes.