RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was on Friday accused of supporting Israeli operations in Gaza through intelligence-gathering missions carried out from British soil.

“Britain is complicit in what I and many others see as genocide,” former Greek Finance Minister Yiannis Varoufakis told Declassified UK.

He said the UK was using its sovereign base in Akrotiri to conduct spy flights over the Palestinian enclave and possibly passing intelligence to Israel.

“The UK political establishment, and I don’t just mean the government, has blood on its hands.”

RAF Akrotiri, located near Limassol, is a British sovereign territory and not under the responsibility of Cyprus law.

“If I were a Cypriot minister, I would absolutely demand transparency,” Varoufakis added.

“But Cyprus can’t. The Cypriot government is aligned with Israel, much like the governments of the UK and Greece.”

He went on to describe the base as a colonial remnant, arguing that the structure of the Republic of Cyprus was designed by Britain in 1960 to remain strategically weak.

“Divide and rule,” he said, referring to the continued political separation of Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

The UK Ministry of Defence has repeatedly said RAF Akrotiri is used primarily for counter-terrorism and humanitarian missions. However, Declassified UK and other media have reported on dozens of flights by surveillance aircraft from the base since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023.

One aircraft, the RC-135W Rivet Joint, is designed to intercept signals and electronic communications. Satellite tracking data and flight path analysis published by Declassified UK suggest these aircraft have flown repeated missions over the eastern Mediterranean.

The UK has denied directly sharing intelligence with Israel. But analysts told Declassified UK that data gathered through NATO or allied frameworks may still find its way to Tel Aviv.

“We cannot rule out that data collected from Cyprus is passed to Israel,” said one unnamed regional defence analyst.

“If so, the British base becomes an accessory to war.”

President Nikos Christodoulides has reiterated Cyprus’ neutrality throughout the conflict but has not commented publicly on the role of RAF Akrotiri during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

“Cyprus promotes itself as a humanitarian hub,” said Varoufakis.

“But a state cannot claim neutrality while allowing military operations on its soil that it doesn’t control.”

This silence, he added, speaks to the limits of Cypriot sovereignty.

“The base is part of the British state. The Cypriot government has no authority over what goes on there.”

In recent weeks, The Guardian has reported that British surveillance planes have carried out over 500 reconnaissance missions above Gaza since the conflict began. These are officially described as “hostage search operations”, but their timing, often coinciding with major Israeli offensives, has raised further questions.

An RAF aircraft is also believed to have landed in Israel at least once, according to flight records seen by Declassified UK.

Unofficial sources cited by Declassified UK claim US aircraft transporting weapons and special forces may also be using Akrotiri as a stopover en route to Israel, but the UK ministry of defence has refused to confirm or deny these reports.

“UK ministers are not just complicit, they are lying to the public,” said Varoufakis in his Declassified UK interview.

“They know public opinion is against them, so they hide the truth.”

The Zionist idea of a land without people for a people without a land wasn’t original, Varoufakis said. “It mirrored British colonial narratives, like calling Australia terra nullius to erase its Aboriginal people.”

“In a region scarred by history,” Varoufakis concluded, “Cyprus remains at the crossroads, either a humanitarian bridge or an accomplice to violence.”