The Australian government has increased its travel advice regarding Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In an update published 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 either region “due to the unstable security situation, armed conflict, civil unrest and terrorism”.
Australians in Israel “should leave as long as commercial flights remain available, border crossings are open” and it is “safe to do so”, the update adds.
“There is a constant threat of missile and rocket attacks in Israel. You should not travel to the border areas between Israel and Lebanon,” the text continues.
“There remains a strong threat of military and terrorist attacks against Israel and Israeli interests in the region. The security situation could deteriorate rapidly, with little or no notice. This situation has resulted and may continue to result in closures airspace, flight cancellations, 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”.
The Australians were since the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging fire in October last year, alongside the war between Israel and Hamas.
The conflict between Israel and Lebanon has intensified since late September, when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded – killing at least 39 people and injuring around 3,000 in Lebanon – during a attack that the group blamed on Israel.
Since Israel launched its recent wave of strikes against targets in and around Lebanon in September, more than 1,300 people have been killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and more than a million have been displaced.
Sunday, Hezbollah in Binyamina, in northern Israel, with drones.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed and seven others seriously injured, according to the Israeli army.
Israel has been bombing Gaza since the Palestinian group Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which more than 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government.
The Israeli assault on Gaza since October 7 has killed more than 42,000 people in the enclave, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and displaced much of its population.
Israeli military operations in Gaza have intensified in recent days.
On Monday, an Israeli airstrike that hit Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza Strip town of Deir Al-Balah killed four Palestinians and injured dozens.
The day before, 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 flights from Lebanon supported by the Australian government have left the country, after months of warnings to citizens and their families to leave as the security situation worsened.
Repatriation flights have stopped due to lack of demand, with planes returning with empty seats.
A total of 3,170 Australians, permanent residents and their family members left Lebanon, with just over 2,550 landing in Australia on repatriation flights.
In late September, the government warned Australian travelers of growing tensions linked to the conflict in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories which are affecting neighboring countries.
In an update to its travel advice for a dozen countries, Smartraveller warned Australian travelers that “the ongoing conflict in Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories could lead to increased tensions in other places in the Middle East.” East.”
With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press
