Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Britain is using spy planes to gather intelligence on hostages held by Hamas that it is passing on to the Israeli military, it has been disclosed.
David Lammy, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, confirmed in a letter that RAF aircraft were being used over Gaza to retrieve information on hostages. At least one hostage, Emily Damari, holds joint British-Israeli citizenship.
The RAF Shadow R1 aircraft used on the missions have an immense capability to pick up signals intelligence including phone and radio calls and WhatsApp messages, flying daily missions since the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Israel-Gaza war – in pictures
While defence experts have questioned whether information that could be used to target Hamas could be passed on to the Israelis, Whitehall sources have confirmed to The National that “definitely no information is passed on like that”.
“We only provide information on locating hostages and hostage rescue,” the source added. “The intelligence gathering's sole purpose is for locating hostages.”
Since the October 7 attacks on Israel, the Shadow R1s have been nearly constant in the skies above or adjacent to Gaza, hoovering up reams of intelligence.
In a letter written to the UK parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Mr Lammy said “these surveillance aircraft are unarmed and do not have a combat role” and they were “tasked solely to locate hostages”.
However, because of the highly sensitive nature of the missions, he added that “we cannot … share everything that the government is doing”.
As of November last year, the RAF aircraft flying out of the UK’s Cyprus airbase 362km from Gaza had conducted 645 flights over the enclave since October 7.
However, military analysts have suggested that even if the Shadow R1’s main mission was to find information leading to the hostages’ whereabouts, it was possible other information could still be passed on to Israel.
“Why would the Israelis allow the RAF to fly over their air space without the RAF giving them something?” said defence expert Tim Ripley, editor of Defence Eye.
“But the real question is, are the Israelis bombing people on intelligence that we give them?”
That has been strongly denied by the UK’s Ministry of Defence, but it has conceded that it would give evidence of any war crimes to the International Criminal Court.
“In line with our international obligations, we would consider any formal request from the International Criminal Court to provide information relating to investigations into war crimes,” the MoD said.
Air force expert Paul Beaver called the Shadow R1s the “most capable surveillance aircraft in Nato”, where the on-board personnel “can just listen into virtually everything” and data is immediately transferred by satellite to military planners.
“There's obviously a reason these aircraft are there. One is that there are British hostages still and that's something the government has previously kept very quiet about. It’s a more difficult question on exactly what intelligence is being passed on to the Israelis.”
The innocuous-looking twin propeller driven Beechcraft are equipped with highly capable cameras as well as eavesdropping devices and can fly 450kph on missions lasting between two and six hours.
Aid needed
Meanwhile, the committee of MPs has been told that dismantling the UN agency charged with giving out aid in Gaza will leave “children without hope to access education and plunge communities deeper into poverty and despair”.
In a letter, UNRWA, the UN aid agency for Palestinians, urged the UK to push for continued aid access in Gaza.
It should “press the state of Israel for unrestricted humanitarian access, and champion accountability for violations of international law through international legal mechanisms”, the UNRWA director said.
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, voted in October in favour of measures aimed at curbing UNRWA's operations in Gaza following a 90-day grace period, a deadline which will end on January 28.
Some Israeli politicians had accused the agency of harbouring Hamas members, and while the UN has fired nine workers following an investigation, it said Israel has not provided evidence for wider infiltration.
Marta Lorenzo, UNRWA's director in Europe, said the agency’s services had been “lifesaving for children, women and men, at a time when the health system in Gaza has been decimated”.
She added: “In the absence of a functioning state, UNRWA is also the only organisation able to kick-start education for 650,000 children.
“The dismantling of UNRWA's operations at this moment would leave an entire generation of children without hope to access education and plunge communities deeper into poverty and despair, sowing the seeds for further instability and extremism.”
Speaking as her committee published the letters, the Foreign Affairs Committee’s chairman, Dame Emily Thornberry, said: “While it is clear from the Foreign Secretary’s letters that the [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] is working hard to bring about a ceasefire and bring home the hostages, there has been little tangible progress.
“The cold facts stand. Millions in Gaza are met daily with assaults from missiles and bombs. Dozens of hostages, including Britons and those with close links to the UK, are still held in Gaza, with no end to their suffering in sight.
“My question to the Foreign Secretary is this: If our current approach continues to fail, what is the plan B?”
In a statement to The National the Ministry of Defence said: “The UK’s operational mandate is narrowly defined to focus on securing the release of the hostages only, including British nationals, with the RAF routinely conducting unarmed flights since December 2023 for this sole purpose.”
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
Under 19 World Cup
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Profile Box
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif
Based: Manama, Bahrain
Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation
Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($100,000)
Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)
