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).
Australians are now advised “not to travel” to either area “due to the volatile 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 adds.
“There is a continuing threat of rocket and rocket attacks in Israel. You should not travel to Israel’s border areas with Lebanon,” he continued.
“There continues to be a high threat of military and terrorist attacks against Israel and Israeli interests throughout the region. The security situation could deteriorate rapidly, with little or no warning. This situation has and may continue to result in airspace closures , 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 need to 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, coinciding with the war between Israel and Hamas.
The conflict between Israel and Lebanon has worsened since late September, when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded – killing at least 39 people and wounding around 3,000 in Lebanon – in an attack that the group blamed on Israel.
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.
Hezbollah on Sunday in Binyamina, northern Israel, with drones.
According to the Israeli army, four Israeli soldiers were killed and seven others were seriously injured.
Israel has been bombing 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.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 7 has killed more than 42,000 people in the enclave, and displaced much of its population.
Israeli military operations in Gaza have intensified in recent days.
An Israeli airstrike that hit Al-Aqsa Hospital in the Gaza Strip city of Deir Al-Balah on Monday killed four Palestinians and wounded dozens.
The day before, at least 22 Palestinians were killed when Israeli tank shells hit a school housing displaced families in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
The last Australian government-assisted flights out of Lebanon have left the country, after months of warnings to citizens and their families to leave due to the worsening security situation.
Repatriation flights stopped due to 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 from conflict 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 elsewhere in the Middle East”.
With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press