The UK will conduct surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza as a part of hostage rescue efforts.
The Ministry of Defence stated the surveillance plane “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,” the ministry stated in a press release.
The flights will happen over the japanese Mediterranean, together with working in air house over Israel and Gaza.
The MoD stated the UK authorities had been “working with partners across the region to secure the release of hostages, including British nationals, who have been kidnapped” for the reason that Hamas assaults on 7 October.
“The safety of British nationals is our utmost priority,” it stated.
UK army was deployed to the japanese Mediterranean the week after the 7 October assaults, with RAF plane and Royal Navy ships despatched to the area.
The army package deal additionally noticed P8 plane, surveillance property, three merlin helicopters and an organization of Royal Marines placed on standby “to deliver practical support to Israel and partners in the region, and offer deterrence and assurance”.
On Thursday, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps introduced the UK would ship one among its most deadly warships to the Gulf to discourage rising threats to delivery from Iran and Iranian-backed teams.
Mr Shapps stated he was beefing-up a long-standing maritime safety operation within the Gulf to cut back the chance of the present disaster between Israel and Tehran-backed Hamas escalating right into a regional battle.
Source: information.sky.com”