Pro-Palestinian activists broke into Britain’s largest air base and damaged two military aircraft in central England early Friday.
Palestine Action, a group based in the UK with a mission to interrupt the work of arms manufacturers that supply the Israeli government, shared a video of their protest on their X account.
The video shows two people riding on electric scooters on the tarmac of RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire.
The footage captures activists using red paint on the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft, which they claim have been involved in transporting military goods and providing refueling services to military planes and fighter jets from Israel, the US, and the UK.
A spokesperson from Palestine Action declared in a statement that “Britain is not only complicit but actively involved in the genocide in Gaza and committing war crimes throughout the Middle East.”
“By decommissioning two military planes, Palestine Action have directly intervened in the genocide and prevented crimes against the Palestinian people,” it added.
A Ministry of Defence source told CNN that RAF Voyagers do not carry anything for the Israeli forces or refuel Israeli aircraft.
The incident raises wider questions as to how the activists – who have not been apprehended – managed to get into the airbase undetected.
RAF Brize Norton has approximately 5800 service personnel, 300 civilian staff and 1200 contractors.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence strongly condemned the “vandalism of Royal Air Force assets” and said that it was working with police who were investigating the breach.
In a statement posted to X, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident “an act of vandalism” and said it was “disgraceful.”
