BRITAIN has sent two naval vessels and air force surveillance planes to Israel, the government said today as ministers insisted that Tel Aviv has the right to “go after Hamas.”  

The aircraft began patrols to “track threats to regional stability such as the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups.”

Three Merlin helicopters and Royal Marines are also being dispatched.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that Israel has “every right to defend itself” from Hamas attacks, but he stressed that civilian safety must be “paramount in our minds.”

Mr Sunak also stressed that Britain was doing “everything we can to ensure the security of British citizens,” after Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said it seemed “very likely” that there were British hostages in Gaza.

Mr Shapps claimed that the Royal Navy vessels were not warships but “ships that can assist with hospital facilities.”

He told BBC Breakfast that sending them was also about “deterring others from getting involved in the region” and “maligning external influence.”

Mr Shapps said Israel should act within international law, but he added: “The question is what is Israel to do?

“Leave these Hamas terrorists to come in and slaughter people again? Or deal with them once and for all?”

He refused to criticise the siege of the Gaza Strip, which is blocking water, food, medicines and electricity from reaching one of the most densly populated parts in the world.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said on X: “The British government routinely approves licences for the supply of weapons to Israel, including of the type Israel is using in its attacks on civilians. This includes military jets and helicopters, ammunition and missiles.

“Instead of sending weapons which will be used to fuel the massacre, the British government must de-escalate. It must stop the export of weapons to Israel and call for it to end its attacks and lift the illegal siege on Gaza.”

Thousands of Palestinian rights activists will turn out across Britain tomorrow to call for an end to the violence and condemn the government’s support for Israeli apartheid.

In London, protesters will gather outside the BBC headquarters in Portland Place at 12pm.

In Scotland, rallies will take place in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow at 2pm.

War on Want said in a statement: "The UK should be ending its shameful arms trade with Israel in the wake of these growing atrocities, not increasing its military complicity with Israel’s lethal violations of international law.

"We are witnessing a genocide unfolding. And the UK government is supporting it."