The Israeli military has landed six flights in Britain since it began its criminal bombing of Gaza in early October, it can be revealed.
The real number is likely to be higher, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) refused to give any details about Israeli military flights in the UK.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) recently said it was “plausible” Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The latest information about Israeli military assets using Britain during its campaign may implicate UK ministers in crimes against humanity.
Declassified has discovered through flight records that Israeli Air Force (IAF) jets have taken off and arrived at four different airports in Britain.
The first Israeli flight we discovered departed from Glasgow Prestwick airport, southwest Scotland, on 18 November, although its arrival does not appear to have been registered.
The flight, numbered IAF680, took off from Scotland just after 1pm and landed in Beersheba, Israel, around 5 hours later.
No information is available about what type of military jet it was, and the MoD refused to provide any details. The website which Declassified uses to track flights says the Israeli military jet “is present on our blocked aircraft list”.
Beersheba is an Israeli city in the Negev desert which is home to the IAF’s Nevatim air base.
This base has been the central node the US has used to deliver bombs and other weapons to Israel for its attack on Gaza. “The first plane carrying US armaments has since arrived at the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel this evening,” the Israeli military tweeted on October 11.
Mildenhall
An Israeli military flight then flew from Birmingham airport to Nevatim again on 2 December. The type of aircraft was again withheld, but independent photos of the vehicle show it was a Boeing 707-300C.
This 707 is a freighter and transport aircraft that can carry up to 189 passengers.
We understand the plane should have landed at RAF Mildenhall, the US Air Force base in Suffolk, but was diverted.
Over the next fortnight, two Israeli military aircraft then departed from Mildenhall, which is home to 4,245 US military personnel, the second largest concentration of American troops in Britain.
The first of these IAF flights went from Mildenhall to Nevatim on 7 December, but the aircraft type was again not disclosed. Then an IAF Boeing 707-300 flew from Mildenhall to Dover, a US Air Force base in Delaware on 13 December.
The Dover base hosts the 436th Airlift Wing and is the Department of Defense’s busiest and largest air freight terminal. The first shipment of US weapons to Israel left Dover base on 10 October.
In that transfer, a commercial air cargo group with planes in Israel sent an airliner from Tel Aviv and upon landing in Dover was packed with “advanced weaponry” before heading back to Nevatim.
‘We cannot comment’
On Christmas Day, an Israeli military flight arrived from Nevatim at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the RAF’s principal operating base located west of London. The aircraft type was again not disclosed. The following day the same aircraft flew from Brize Norton to Dover in the US.
It is unclear what these Israeli military jets landing and taking off from Britain have been carrying.
When asked, an MoD spokesperson told Declassified: “It is standard practice to routinely authorise requests for limited numbers of allies and partners to access the UK’s air bases.”
They added: “We cannot comment on or provide information relating to foreign nations’ military aircraft movements or operations.”
Declassified has also found that a US Air Force C-17 flew from Nevatim air base to Gazipasa airport in southern Turkey on 23 January.
After Turkey it went to Cyprus then to Ramstein air base in Germany before finally landing at the Dover base on the east coast of the US.
The US Department of Defense refused to disclose to Declassified what was on the flight, but Nevatim and Dover have been central nodes in the transfer of US munitions to Israel since the Gaza bombing began.
The C-17 is capable of transporting 134 personnel and many types of military equipment, including Abrams tanks and Black Hawk helicopters. The US military notes that the C-17’s role is to “rapidly project and sustain an effective combat force close to a potential battle area”.
