British surveillance flights help in search for hostages
British citizens may also be among the hostages held by the radical Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 7. This is another reason why British military aircraft are supporting the search for the people still being held.
The UK wants to help with surveillance flights in the search for the hostages abducted by the radical Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The British military will carry out flights "over the eastern Mediterranean, including the airspace over Israel and Gaza", explained the Ministry of Defense in London on Saturday evening. The planes are unarmed, it added. They were only used to locate hostages.
"Only information relating to the release of hostages will be passed to the relevant authorities," the ministry added. It did not give any details about the exact start date of the flights.
Fighters from the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas had taken around 240 people hostage in the Gaza Strip during their major attack on Israel on 7 October. Around 110 of them have since been freed, most of them as part of a one-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that expired on Friday.
Increased British military presence
According to the British government, at least twelve Britons were among the 1,200 people Israel claims were killed in the Hamas attack. A further five British citizens are missing. It is unclear whether they are in the hands of Hamas.
In response to the brutal attack by Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, Israel launched massive attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip from the air and on the ground. According to Hamas, which cannot be independently verified, around 15,000 people were killed.
Alongside the USA, the UK expanded its military presence in the region in October, deploying maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft and a Royal Navy task force to the eastern Mediterranean.
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The British government is concerned about potential British hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza Strip, stemming from the hostage taking during the Israel war on October 7. Great Britain has increased its military presence in the region, including surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza Strip, to aid in the search for these hostages.
Source: www.ntv.de
