The UK will conduct surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza to search for hostage locations used by Hamas, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said. MoD officials said a range of unarmed aircraft would be used for the reconnaissance flights, including Shadow R1s, which are used for intelligence gathering. Information on the potential whereabouts of captives will be shared with Israel. “The safety of British nationals is our utmost priority,” the MoD said in a statement. “In support of the ongoing hostage rescue activity, the UK Ministry of Defence will conduct surveillance flights over the Eastern Mediterranean, including operating in airspace over Israel and Gaza. “Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages. Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue.” Fighting resumed in Gaza on Friday after a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas, during which 80 Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. There are still thought to be more than 130 hostages in the Gaza Strip. In the weeks after Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, Downing Street said at least 12 British nationals had been killed in the attack and a further five were still missing. Some of those are believed to have been kidnapped, but the government has not confirmed how many. A week after the 7 October attack, the UK government announced military units would be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean “to support Israel, reinforce regional stability and prevent escalation”. The military package included P8 aircraft, surveillance assets, two Royal Navy ships – RFA Lyme Bay and RFA Argus – three Merlin helicopters and a company of Royal Marines. On Thursday, the defence secretary, Grant Shapps, announced Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond would also be deployed to the region to deter growing threats to shipping from Iran and Iranian-backed groups.