By Malik Mukhtar | July 20, 2025
In Gaza, satellites don’t bring hope — they bring airstrikes.
And the UK?
It’s not just watching.
It’s flying over 500 surveillance missions, feeding intel into a war machine that has already flattened hospitals, vaporized bakeries, and starved children in their mothers’ arms.
But don’t worry — it’s all for “hostage rescue.”
Right.
🎯 The “Hostage” Excuse That Bombed a City
Since December 2023, Britain’s Royal Air Force has flown at least 518 surveillance flights over Gaza, courtesy of Shadow R1 spy planes. These aircraft, launched from Cyprus, come equipped with high-definition sensors — the kind that can spot a goat from 30,000 feet. But apparently, they can't distinguish between a militant and a five-year-old holding a water bottle.
The Ministry of Defence claims it shares intel only to “support hostage recovery.”
How noble.
Except those same planes were in the air right before Israeli massacres in:
- Nuseirat refugee camp (June 2024)
- Rafah assault (February 2025)
- And dozens more unnamed coordinates that have since been reduced to ash.
Is this a hostage rescue mission or a data-enabled genocide?
🏛️ Corbyn: “No More Whitehall Silence”
Enter Jeremy Corbyn.
The former Labour leader — who, unlike many of his peers, still has a functioning moral compass — is now pushing for a “Chilcot-style inquiry” into Britain’s role in this blood-soaked surveillance campaign.
His demand?
- Full public transparency on the nature and use of intelligence
- Legal accountability for whether that data was used to target civilians
- Answers on whether Britain is violating international law — again
He’s joined by over 22 NGOs, including Action Aid and War on Want, all calling for the same thing:
An investigation into whether the UK is complicit in war crimes.
Naturally, the British government responded with the usual:
- “We don’t comment on operational details.”
- “We are committed to international humanitarian law.”
- “Our thoughts are with the victims.”
But thoughts don’t stop missiles.
And surveillance doesn’t just observe war crimes — it often enables them.
đź›°️ Spying for Peace?
Let’s not be naive.
These are not weather balloons.
Shadow R1 planes gather:
- Visual intelligence (movement, patterns, refugee locations)
- Electronic signals (phones, radio, encrypted comms)
- Target coordinates (suspected militants — or whoever’s near them)
And yet the MoD insists:
“The UK has no direct role in Israeli strikes.”
So what happens to the data?
Does it magically vanish in a digital black hole?
Or does it land — encrypted and sanitized — into the hands of Israeli command, just before a strike hits a UN school?
🤡 Hypocrisy, with a Union Jack
Britain sends food parcels with one hand… and flight data with the other.
It preaches "rules-based order", then helps violate every rule in the book — quietly, remotely, and from 30,000 feet.
Meanwhile, MPs who dare to question this duplicity are smeared as “security risks” or “antisemitic.”
Because in this new moral order, complicity is patriotic — and conscience is treason.
⚖️ International Law? Or Just International Suggestions?
According to the Arms Trade Treaty, Rome Statute, and even the UK’s own military codes:
Sharing intelligence that aids unlawful military action can amount to complicity in war crimes.
But don't expect prosecutions.
Britain doesn't investigate itself — it knighted Tony Blair, remember?
đź“Ł Final Words: Hostage to Hypocrisy
Let’s not kid ourselves.
Gaza is under aerial surveillance not to save lives — but to help take them.
This isn't intelligence for peace.
This is colonial rebranded as counterterrorism.
The UK isn’t just “supporting” Israel.
It’s co-piloting its war — from the clouds.
And Jeremy Corbyn, for all his flaws, is at least asking the one question we all should be:
“When did British intelligence stop defending civilians — and start targeting them?”
đź–‹ Sources Cited:
- Declassified UK: 518 Surveillance Missions
- The Guardian: Corbyn Inquiry Push
- [MoD Statements, OCHA Reports, MSF Field Updates]
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