The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Royal Air Force (RAF) has not provided any logistical or operational support to Israel during the past year, following speculation about Britain’s involvement in the region.
Responding to a written parliamentary question from MP Susan Murray, Armed Forces Minister Al Carns stated that “the RAF is not providing logistical or operational support to Israel.”
Carns explained that although no logistical assistance had been offered, UK aircraft had carried out a series of surveillance flights between December 2023 and October 2025. These operations were part of international efforts to locate hostages taken during the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.
According to Carns, “the UK government has been working with partners across the region to secure the release of hostages, including British nationals, who were kidnapped.” He added that these flights were unarmed and “had no combat role,” operating over the Eastern Mediterranean as well as within Israeli and Gazan airspace. The final mission took place on 10 October 2025, after the Gaza peace plan was implemented and all remaining hostages were released.
The clarification follows a recent surge of misinformation that falsely claimed a British military aircraft had supported Israeli operations over Qatar. The British Embassy in Doha rejected those reports as “baseless and false,” confirming that the RAF Voyager involved had been conducting a pre-planned air-to-air refuelling exercise with the Qatari Emiri Air Force.
Technical details also make such cooperation impossible. The RAF’s Airbus Voyager tankers use the probe-and-drogue refuelling method, which is incompatible with Israel’s US-designed fighter jets. The Ministry of Defence reaffirmed that all UK flights in the region were humanitarian in nature, and that intelligence sharing was closely monitored to maintain operational security.
