US and UK agencies reportedly hacked into Israeli drones and other aircraft as they gathered intelligence, in an operation dating from the late 1990s, the BBC reported on Friday.

It enabled Israel's allies to monitor information acquired by its reconnaissance missions, Der Spiegel and The Intercept website reported.

The website said the information came from material leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

One Israeli minister said it was disappointing, but not a surprise.

"We know that the Americans spy on every country in the world and on us as well, on their friends," said Yuval Steinitz, a cabinet minister and former minister of intelligence affairs.

He said Israel had not spied on the US for decades.

The intelligence agencies were able to watch information that the drones and other aircraft broadcast back to their handlers, the reports said.

They had a "virtual seat in the cockpit" as Israeli drones struck targets, The Intercept said.

Source: MENA