The British spy squad assisting Israel as it bombs Gaza
A leaked photo of SAS soldiers on active-duty. It is likely the unit is part of the secret British spy team deployed in Israel
Matt Kennard reports in Declassified UK on 11 June 2024:
A senior Israeli official has said that a British spy team has been deployed to Israel since it began bombing Gaza in October. The new information came in a New York Times article on Saturday [8 June] about Israel’s rescue of four hostages during a raid that also killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Israel is currently being investigated for genocide at the World Court while the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant.
British ministers could be legally vulnerable as more information comes to light about their supporting role in Israel’s war on Gaza.
The New York Times article noted that “intelligence collection and analysis teams from the United States and Britain have been in Israel throughout the war”. It continued that the British personnel were “assisting Israeli intelligence in collecting and analysing information related to the hostages, some of them citizens of both countries”. The Israeli official said “the outside intelligence” provided by Britain had given them “added value”. They claimed that “neither the American nor British teams were involved in the planning or execution of the military operations to rescue the hostages”.
Declassified has previously revealed the RAF has flown more than 200 spy missions over Gaza from Cyprus since December, with at least one landing in Israel. But this is the first acknowledgment that British intelligence officers have been deployed inside Israel to support its campaign in Gaza.
The Israeli official added that Britain had “been able to provide intelligence from the air and cyberspace that Israel cannot collect on its own”