Several airlines have suspended flights to Israel following the widespread terrorist attacks in the south of the country over the weekend.
Militants from Palestinian group Hamas killed hundreds of Israelis during a series of raids, which were launched on settlements in Israel early on Saturday morning causing the country’s government to declare a state of emergency across the entire country.
Many major airlines suspended direct flights to Israel over the weekend and into the early part of this week due to the unstable security situation in the country.
Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, the country’s main gateway, is continuing to operate “as planned”.
Meanwhile Israeli flag carrier El Al’s services are running as scheduled “in accordance with the instructions of the Israeli security forces”, with flights departing from Terminal 3 at Ben Guiron. Although the airline is offering more flexibility to passengers who want to cancel or change their flights.
EasyJet, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa and Finnair have been among the airlines to cancel flights to Israel.
“Due to the evolving situation in Israel, we have paused our flight operations to and from Tel Aviv on 8 and 9 of October,” said easyJet in a statement.
Air France said it was “monitoring developments in Israel in real time”, with flights to Tel Aviv currently suspended “until further notice”.
Lufthansa added it had cancelled all flights to and from Israel until the end of Monday (October 9), with a decision about future services to the country to be made early this week.
The UK Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is also now warning against all but essential travel to Israel following the weekend’s attacks.
“There is currently a large-scale conflict happening in areas of southern Israel close to the border with Gaza,” said the FCDO.
“International borders (air and land) in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories could close at short notice. You should check with your airlines and travel insurers before travelling.”