UK hired US surveillance aircraft for Gaza spy mission to support Israel: report

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) hired a US private contractor to conduct surveillance flights over Gaza, using an American aircraft and crew to gather intelligence during Israel’s ongoing assault.

The Gulfstream jet, leased from Pennsylvania-based aerospace firm Metrea, was staffed by US personnel with security clearance and took off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Its flights were tracked in July after the plane’s transponder was mistakenly left on, exposing its flight path over Gaza.

According to The Times, the aircraft was hired to carry out missions similar to those flown by the RAF’s Shadow surveillance planes.

A British military source told the newspaper: "Instead of sending a message to Israel that we’re not going to do surveillance for you, we’re happy to hire an American company and pay for it."

They added: "This is essentially the same aircraft [as the RAF Shadow], being [run] by a civilian company who are for hire. They have US security clearances and therefore allied nations who trust the US can hire them. This is about support for Israel."

The UK government says its surveillance flights are for humanitarian purposes, including efforts to locate hostages and identify safe routes for aid. But the lack of transparency over how intelligence is used, and whether it is shared with Israel, has drawn criticism.

Liberal Democrat defence spokeswoman Helen Maguire said the move exposed weaknesses in the UK’s military capacity.

"The shortage of RAF aircraft for this purpose is alarming and there are serious questions to answer about whether this is a direct result of failures of the UK government to properly invest in these capabilities," she said.

"We need to be taking every measure necessary to ensure the UK is not contributing to the immense human suffering which we’re seeing in. The government must outline what steps it has taken to ensure Israel can’t use UK-sourced intelligence for its military operations in Gaza," she added.

Aviation researcher Steffan Watkins called the exposed flight path a "schoolboy error", noting it marked the first confirmed UK-linked surveillance flight directly over Gaza since December 2023.

Documents obtained by Declassified UK showed the British government had contracted Metrea to fly unarmed missions over Gaza from January to February 2024.

A separate investigation by Palestine Deep Dive found that Metrea's work was part of a broader network of private military contractors serving Western governments.

The revelations have fuelled concerns over the UK’s increasing reliance on private firms to carry out military and intelligence operations without triggering legal accountability under international law.