UK conducts 50 spy missions over Gaza
International Desk
The UK military has flown 50 spy missions over Gaza since the start of December in support of Israel, an investigation has revealed.
Investigative journalism and media organization Declassified UK said the intelligence gathering flights are conducted using Shadow R1 surveillance aircraft taking off from Britain’s controversial Akrotiri airbase in Cyprus, Al Jazeera reported.
It said the government refused to confirm the number of spy flights or what kind of information was passed to the Israeli army when asked.
Palestinian Health Ministry says 165 Palestinians were killed and 280 wounded in Gaza over a 24-hour period.
Deadly Israeli air raids continue to rain down on Gaza as fighting continues in Khan Younis and near Nasser Hospital.
At least 24,927 people have been killed and 62,388 were wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters entered Israel and took numerous captives.
Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of the Hamas political bureau, says the movement does not want to keep the Israeli captives and is seeking a new prisoner exchange deal.
“In the end, Israel will be forced to make a deal, because it failed during more than a hundred days of war to recover any prisoners by force,” Abu Marzouk told the Russian Sputnik agency.
US President Joe Biden on Friday said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about possible solutions for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting one path could involve a non-militarized government.
Asked if a two-state solution was impossible while Netanyahu was still in office, Biden said, “No, it’s not.”
Meanwhile, criminal complaints were filed against Israeli President Isaac Herzog for allegedly committing war crimes in Gaza while he was in Davos for the World Economic Forum, Swiss prosecutors said Friday.
The Office of the Swiss Attorney General said: “The criminal complaints will be examined according to the usual procedure,” Reuters reported. It also said it would determine how questions of diplomatic immunity operate given Herzog’s Israeli
citizenship.