Israel-Hamas War: UK Sends Military Support to Eastern Mediterranean

Undated handout photo of a Merlin Helicopter from 845 Naval Air Squadron recovering to the flight deck of RFA Argus off the coast of Honduras after completing aerial damage survey. LPhot Robert Oates/Ministry of Defence via PA

The UK has deployed surveillance aircraft and auxiliary Navy ships to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Friday.

It comes as the Israel-Hamas war, triggered by attacks launched by the Hamas, entered the seventh day.

The Israeli military has urged all civilians of Gazy City to evacuate within 24 hours on Friday as it prepares to target more Hamas terrorists in tunnels underneath the city.

British military assets were directed to “support Israel, reinforce regional stability, and prevent escalation,” the UK government said on Friday in a press release.

P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance and patrol aircrafts have already been deployed. They were to begin patrolling the region from Friday to monitor “threats to regional stability such as the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups,” the statement said.

A Royal Navy task group will also be on standby next week in the eastern Mediterranean to help with humanitarian efforts.

The group consists of auxiliary landing ships RFA Lyme Bay and RFA Argus. The latter has been primarily used as a floating medical facility with a 100-bed medical complex on board.

The package also includes three merlin helicopters and a company of Royal Marines. They will be on standby to “deliver practical support to Israel and partners in the region, and offer deterrence and assurance,” the government said.

The prime minister has also asked all British military teams in Israel, Cyprus, and across the region to get ready to “support contingency planning and the efforts of neighbouring countries to deal with any spillover from instability in Israel.”

“We must be unequivocal in making sure the types of horrific scenes we have seen this week will not be repeated. Alongside our allies, the deployment of our world class military will support efforts to ensure regional stability and prevent further escalation,” Mr. Sunak said in a statement.

“Our military and diplomatic teams across the region will also support international partners to reestablish security and ensure humanitarian aid reaches the thousands of innocent victims of this barbaric attack from Hamas terrorists,” he added.

On Friday, the prime minister also spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to understand the situation in the wider region and to stress the importance of supporting civilians to leave Gaza, No. 10 said.

He also spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asking him to “take all possible measures to protect ordinary Palestinians and facilitate humanitarian aid“ as ”Hamas has enmeshed itself in the civilian population in Gaza.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joins other political leaders to view military equipment that has been given to Ukraine before they attended the Joint Expeditionary Summit (JEF) on the Baltic island of Gotland, Sweden, on Oct.13, 2023. Stefan Rousseau/PA

Attending a UK-led northern European defence alliance summit in Sweden on Friday, Mr. Sunak said terrorism “must not prevail” in Israel or Ukraine.

British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK’s military support package “will be an undeniable display of the UK’s resolve to ensure Hamas’s terrorist campaign fails, whilst reminding those who seek to inflame tensions that the forces of freedom stand with the Israeli people.”

“The monstrous terrorist attacks committed by Hamas in recent days have proven why the UK must support Israel’s absolute right to self-defence and deter malign external interference. No nation should stand alone in the face of such evil and today’s deployment will ensure Israel does not,” he said.

Hamas launched unprovoked missile attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, seized Israeli villages, and murdered and raped civilians.

Mendy Haviv, a commander of the non-governmental rescue and recovery organization ZAKA, told Epoch Israel he had seen harrowing scenes including “bodies of babies tied up,” “burnt bodies,” and “decapitated heads of children of several ages.”

According to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), as of Friday morning, more than 1,300 Israelis have been killed, more than 3,200 were wounded, over 6,000 rockets were fired toward Israel, hitting 2,687 targets.

The IDF also said it had reached over 2,600 targets during land, aerial, and naval attacks on terrorist sites in the Gaza Strip, reaching over 2,600 targets by Thursday.

Targets hit on Thursday night include “underground Hamas terror tunnels, military compounds and posts, residences of senior terrorist operatives used as military command centres, weapons storage warehouses, comms rooms, and targeted senior terrorist operatives,” the IDF said.