Two RAF surveillance planes have flown over the eastern Mediterranean during the ceasefire, as campaigners demand inquiry into UK intelligence sharing with Israel.

Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has dispatched two surveillance planes towards Gaza since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, Declassified can reveal.

Zaki Sarraf, a legal officer at the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) told Declassified: “For months, the government has said that RAF planes flying around Gaza are used solely for locating hostages, so why are these flights still happening now that hostilities have paused?”

The first spy flight departed from RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s airbase in Cyprus, at 15:32 and returned at 20:59 local time on 19 January – the day the ceasefire went into effect.

The aircraft turned off its transponders over the eastern Mediterranean, raising questions about precisely what it was doing in the air while the last remaining British hostage, Emily Damari, was being released by Hamas.

The second flight departed from RAF Akrotiri on 25 January at 11:26 local time and returned to base at 17:44, once again turning off its transponders over the eastern Mediterranean as the second hostage exchange was taking place.