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Intelligence gathered by RAF spy planes flying over Gaza could be used as evidence against Israel in The Hague, it is understood.
Surveillance aircraft have carried out almost daily missions over the 25-mile-long Gaza Strip to try to help the Israelis find hostages captured by Hamas on 7 October.
But any video or images the aircraft obtained of suspected war crimes committed by either Israel or Hamas could be handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“If the ICC came to us and said, we think there has been a war crime in this area and do you have any footage, would the UK government offer that? Yes, absolutely,” a military source told The Times.
An ICC prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his defence minister Yoav Gallant and several Hamas leaders in May – but these have not yet been approved by the court’s judges.
An International Criminal Court prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in May, as well as senior Hamas leaders (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Hamas leaders Mohamed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar – for whom arrest warrants were sought – have all been killed by the Israeli military in recent weeks.
It is not clear what aircraft are flying over Gaza or how many, but the Shadow R1, equipped with high-definition electro-optical and electronic sensors to gather data, is currently operating in the region.
The Shadow is flown by 14 Squadron, based at RAF Waddington, and its motto is written in Arabic. A quote taken from the Quran, it says: “I spread my wings and keep my promise.”
Between October 2023 and June 2024, the Met Police’s counter-terrorism unit received 158 reports of war crimes relating to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip earlier this month (AP)
Recent footage showed a Palestinian teenager being burned alive while attached to an IV drip following an Israeli airstrike on a hospital complex.
Aid workers in Gaza have described daily seeing burned toddlers screaming in pain because there are not enough painkillers and children with severed limbs and their brains exposed after being hit in bombings.
The RAF was said to have been flying over Gaza on the day that Israel killed seven international aid workers who were in a World Central Kitchen convoy.
Those killed on April 1 included three British military veterans, John Chapman, James Kirby and James Henderson.