UK to start Gaza surveillance flights to locate captives held by Hamas

Tel Aviv [Israel], December 4 (ANI): The military in the United Kingdom (UK) will operate surveillance flights over Gaza to help locate captives held by Hamas, Al Jazeera reported quoting the British Ministry of Defence.

The report stated that Britain did not reveal when its military surveillance flights over the territory would start but stressed they would be unarmed and focused only on the captive recovery efforts.

Israel, meanwhile, maintained that its military strikes targeted Hamas, not civilians.

During the seven-day truce between Israel and Hamas which ended on Friday morning, 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity in Gaza, including 81 Israelis, 23 Thai nationals and 1 Filipino, in exchange for 210 Palestinian prisoners, all of them women or minors.

Israel also allowed an influx of humanitarian aid into the Strip, according to the Times of Israel.

Still held hostage by Gaza terror groups when the truce collapsed were 136 people — 114 men, 20 women and two children, a government spokesperson Eylon Levy said.

Ten of the hostages are 75 and older, he said, adding that a vast majority of them, 125, are Israelis.

Eleven are foreign nationals, including eight from Thailand, he added.

Israel launched an offensive against Hamas in Gaza in the aftermath of the October 7 assault on southern Israel, which claimed about 1,200 lives, the majority of whom were civilians.

Another 240 people were taken hostage, reports stated.