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The Australian government has increased the level of travel advice regarding Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In an update on Monday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Smartraveller website said it had revised its advice for Israel and the Palestinian territories – the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem).
It now advises Australians “not to travel” to both areas “due to the unstable security situation, armed conflict, civil unrest and terrorism”.
Australians in Israel “should leave while commercial flights remain available, border crossings are open” and it is “safe to do so,” the update said.
“There is a continuing threat of missiles and rocket attacks in Israel. You are not allowed to travel to Israel’s border areas with Lebanon,” the report continued.
“There remains a high threat of military and terrorist attacks against Israel and Israeli interests throughout the region. The security situation could deteriorate quickly, with little or no notice. This situation has led to airspace closures and flight cancellations, and may continue to do so. diversions and other travel disruptions.”
Smartraveller’s previous advice to Australians was to “reconsider their need to travel to Israel” and, if they were in Israel, to “reconsider whether you should stay and, if not, leave when it is safe to do so” .
Australians have been since the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel started firing at each other in October last year, bordering on the war between Israel and Hamas.
The conflict between Israel and Lebanon has accelerated since late September, when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded — killing at least 39 people in Lebanon and wounding about 3,000 — in an attack the group blamed on Israel gave.
Since Israel began its recent wave of attacks on targets in and around Lebanon in September, more than 1,300 people have been killed and more than a million displaced, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Sunday Hezbollah in Binyamina in northern Israel with drones.
According to the Israeli army, four Israeli soldiers were killed and another seven seriously injured.
Israel has bombed Gaza since the October 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on southern Israel, in which more than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were taken, according to the Israeli government.
Israel’s attack on Gaza since October 7 has killed more than 42,000 people in the enclave and displaced much of the population, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Israeli military operations in Gaza have intensified in recent days.
An Israeli airstrike on Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza Strip city of Deir Al-Balah killed four Palestinians and injured dozens on Monday.
A day earlier, at least 22 Palestinians were killed when Israeli tank shells hit a school housing displaced families in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
The last Australian government-assisted flights from Lebanon have left the country, after months of warnings to citizens and their families to leave as the security situation deteriorated.
Repatriation flights halted after a lack of demand as planes returned with empty seats.
A total of 3,170 Australians, permanent residents and family members have left Lebanon, and just over 2,550 have landed in Australia on repatriation flights.
In late September, the government warned Australian travelers of rising tensions due to conflicts in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories affecting neighboring countries.
In an update to its travel advice for a dozen countries, Smartraveller warned Australian travelers that “ongoing conflict in Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories could lead to increased tensions in other locations in the Middle East.”
With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press
