We write as organisations and individuals from Cyprus, Britain, and the United States,  countries critical to the “supply chain of death” facilitating Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The British military bases on Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri and Dhekelia, where the US enjoy a free-pass (as they largely do in the Republic of Cyprus military infrastructure), are used as staging posts for spreading violence and war across West Asia, as they have been since their creation in the 1950s. The colonial bases on Cyprus, known as the Sovereign Base Area, are central nodes of the imperialist violence enacted by Britain and the United States - surveilling Gaza for Israel’s genocide, indiscriminately bombing Yemen, and refuelling illegal attacks on Iran. As people in countries part of this supply chain of death, we refuse to stand by.

We demand that:

• Britain halts all surveillance flights over Palestine and cancel the contract for spy planes with Straight Flight Leasing Company.
• The British Ministry of Defence releases to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice their video surveillance footage of Gaza to facilitate the ongoing proceedings and investigations for genocide and other war crimes in the occuped Palestinian territories, in line with the Genocide Convention.
• The Cypriot government publicises information about US and Israeli armament transit and military flights through Cypriot airports and refuses to facilitate any further shipments by sea or air, in line with its obligations under the Genocide Convention. 
• The US removes all military and intelligence personnel from Cyprus, including from British and Cypriot bases.
• Britain shut down its military bases on Cyprus, dismantles all military operations, and cedes territory back to the Cypriot people.

Britain

Britain is a direct participant in the genocide in Gaza. Its particular contribution is through its colonial Royal Air Force (RAF) bases in Cyprus, in strategic proximity to Palestine, from which it has been flying surveillance flights over Gaza and transporting weapons and soldiers. Not only is Britain facilitating genocide and crimes against humanity, it is probable that Britain is collecting the most extensive documentation of this genocide via its spy flights. Britain has flown 47% of all reconnaissance flights over Gaza, followed by 33% by the US and 20% by Israel. In the tripartite genocide, it is Britain that is providing the specific intelligence role. In the year from October 2023, Britain flew more than 645 surveillance flights over Gaza, providing real time intelligence to Israel.

Britain and the US created an airbridge, made up of bases in Britain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, and Germany. Over 6,000 military flights have flown to Israel, including 1,200 that delivered weapons using this airbridge. The airbridge, surveillance flights, and re-fuelling operations have facilitated the extent of Israel's genocide in Gaza, attacks on the West Bank, bombing of Lebanon, and Yemen. The British government, under the leadership of both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, have ignored and refused questions over the use of the bases in Cyprus in facilitating Israel’s genocide. On 28th October 2023, the government sent the British press a D-notice which instructed them not to report on UK Special Forces in Palestine. None of the mainstream press has since reported on the use of the RAF bases, surveillance flights, or the airbridge. As a result, we can deduce that they have been successfully silenced. Using British taxpayer money and Cypriot land, the UK government is assisting in a genocide. We think it’s right that the British public know what their taxes are being spent on and Cypriots know what their territory is being used for.

Britain has been a key supporter of Israel during its campaign of genocide in Palestine, and the British bases in Cyprus have been the key node through which this support has flowed. 

The bases’ role is fourfold: 

• direct physical intelligence gathering through spy flights; 
• remote signals intelligence collection by the UK and US;
• materially facilitating the delivery of arms, fuel and dual use parts to Israel; 
• a crucial node for UK and US military asset basing (including special forces) for transit to Israel and the wider region in support of Israel, and for combat missions.

The British government, in the few times they have mentioned the surveillance flights or bases, report that they are assisting Israel’s “hostage rescue” - an excuse so thin that very few believe it. Britain must publicise how many hostages it has rescued and whether that is restricted Israel has used the same language to justify its genocide which has killed at least 60,000 people. It was reported that during the Nuseirat massacre in June 2024, a US-Israeli operation to retrieve four hostages, killing almost 300 Palestinians and wounding 1,000 more, British spy planes were in the sky.

The bases have also acted as a crucial supply node for weapons supplies to Israel, certainly from the United States. With international action by workers, progressive governments, and peace movements to block the transfer of weapons to Israel, such as the Spanish government’s arms embargo and ban on arms shipments in its ports, or Greek dock workers on strike to block Israeli arms shipments, Britain is increasing its role in arms delivery to Israel and intentionally undermining this broad alliance of anti-genocide forces. Although the Labour government temporarily suspended 30 arms licences to Israel in September 2024, this is only a fraction of the total trade. Crucially, the government did not suspend the supply of F-35 parts, due to its fear of angering the US. F-35s are Israel's most advanced fighter jet and have led Israel's air force in carrying out countless atrocities and massacres in Gaza and Lebanon, but have also been involved in illegally attacking Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Qatar, and Iran. The bases in Cyprus thus form a core part of the UK's supply of arms for Israel's genocide in Gaza, and its wider campaign of warmongering and aggression in the region.

The bases have been at the centre of Britain's direct participation in the genocide in Palestine, with their existence a cornerstone of Western support. They not only enable British participation in the genocide, but facilitate American and Israeli resupply, and provide a sprawling staging ground for international participation in the genocide. It is not only a British problem, but a mark of shame for Cyprus, a country which has allowed itself to be the 'Airstrip One' of our age, and as much a participant in the genocide as the nation claiming its southernmost soil as theirs.

Cyprus

From 2013 onwards, the government of the Republic of Cyprus (ROC) has long been an ally of Israel, deepening defence ties through joint military exercises (e.g., Onisilos-Gideon), intelligence sharing, and reciprocal access to airspace and naval facilities. Notably, the ROC has allowed the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to train in the Troodos Mountains (Agapinor-2022), a terrain resembling southern Lebanon, to simulate attacks on Lebanese soil - an exercise reflected in Israel’s recent invasion. Additionally, Israeli forces have been granted access to Cypriot-controlled facilities to enforce their own security measures. This was evident when Israeli security agents were permitted to inspect the perimeter of Larnaca International Airport by land and sea, and even requested permission to station armed personnel at the control tower.

Further complicity is seen in the ROC’s recent purchase of the Israeli-made Barak MX anti-aircraft system, violating international law. As of September 18 2024, Cyprus is obligated to impose a two-way military embargo, having voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution demanding sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel.  

Beyond its cooperation with Israel, the ROC has also granted access to UK RAF assets, allowing military aircrafts, including the Shadow R1 spy plane, KC3 Voyager, military helicopters, and Typhoon fighter jets to use Cypriot-controlled airports. Similarly, under a recent five-year bilateral defence agreement with the U.S., Cyprus has permitted American warplanes to operate from its facilities with little transparency regarding their missions. Flight data indicates that U.S. military aircrafts, such as a C-17 departing from Paphos and C-40 Clippers from Larnaca, have traveled to Israel, while helicopters departing Larnaca have later appeared on flight radar emerging from Rafah, Gaza, with no disclosed purpose or cargo. Cypriot ports have also allowed U.S. and UK naval vessels involved in regional military operations to dock, raising concerns about potential contributions to war crimes.

All of these atrocities are committed without the full and prior informed consent of Cypriots on the island. Approximately 11,000 Cypriots are governed by a military dictatorship in the Sovereign Base Area, with their access to resources and a justice system, governed by a British colonial entity. When RAF Akrotiri, Troodos and Dhekelia are used to terrorise the region it is these Cypriots that are at risk of retaliation. These bases are not just bases, they are modern-day British colonies shielded by civilian infrastructure as well as military installations that are causing sickness to the local population via soil, air, water and radiation pollution. Self-determination must override colonial-era agreements.

United States

The US military uses RAF bases on Cyprus to ship weapons deliveries to Israel. Regular US Air Force (USAF)  flights take place between the bases and Israel, the contents of which is mostly secret but likely involves the transfer of soldiers and special forces. The US has long had significant involvement in the bases, compelling Britain to keep them open during the Cold War due to their usefulness for intelligence operations in West Asia. The US use of the bases is expanding: there at least 129 US soldiers permanently stationed on RAF Akrotiri; in 2023, the US spent $27m on a new installation on Akrotiri to house its additional personnel; in 2024, the US spent $1.2m on new security on Akrotiri; the US has a long term signals intelligence outpost on the bases acting as a centre of US SIGINT gathering in the region. Because the bases are British sovereign territory, the US can operate freely in the territory in secrecy with no accountability to the Cypriot people or government.  A Cypriot working on RAF Akrotiri told Declassified UK that “there is a big US presence, I don’t know how that works or why.” USAF flights also touch down on Cypriot controlled airports outside the SBA, implying that the Cypriot government permits this activity too. 

More recently, the British MoD contracted Straight Flight Leasing Company, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation, to provide spy planes to spy on Gaza from RAF Akrotiri. Sierra Nevada Corporation is a weapons manufacturer based in Reno, Nevada with a history of entrenching militarism in the local community. The British Ministry of Defence contract for spy flights, revealed by Palestine Deep Dive, shines further light on the relationship between US weapons companies and the RAF in conducting the genocide in Gaza, all of which comes together and is staged from the Sovereign Base Area of Cyprus.

Conclusion

We, the undersigned demand the colonial bases on Cyprus must be totally shut down for the sake of peace and justice across the world. We stand firmly opposed to imperialist violence enacted by the United States and Britain, particularly in facilitating the genocide in Gaza. The participation of the US and Britain in Israel’s slaughter and destruction of Gaza must face greater challenge, investigation, and social crisis to stop it.

We stand together as people and organisations across the globe in refusing to allow this violence to continue.

Signed,