Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the federal government will commence repatriation flights out of Israel for Australians who wish to leave but do not have a commercial flight booked.
Two flights have been organised with the assistance of Qantas, with the potential for more to follow.
The first will leave on Friday, and they will be free of charge for Australian citizens.
“We understand that many Australians are experiencing difficulties with delays and cancellations with commercial flights,” Albanese said.
“For Australians who do not already have plans to leave through commercial options, Australian government-assisted departure flights will depart from Friday.”
The government-assisted Qantas flights will depart for London from Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main international airport on the outskirts of Lod, not far from Tel Aviv.
Satellite photos show devastated Gaza after Israeli airstrikes
Albanese said any Australian citizens wanting to leave Israel on the flights needed to register with the government’s 24-hour consular emergency centre.
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The centre can be called from overseas, including Israel, on +61 2 6261 3305, or on 1300 555 135 from within Australia.
“We are assessing all options to get Australians home as soon as possible who wish to travel back here,” Albanese said.
“We have been working on these contingencies over recent times and will continue to do so across the range of issues as a result of the appalling and abhorrent attacks by Hamas that we saw on the weekend.”
Albanese said the government remains unsure of exactly how many Australians have been caught up in the conflict.
“Part of the issue, of course, is there are so many Australians in the area that it is not completely clear how many are there, let alone how many are unaccounted for,” he said.
“So what we’re doing is working through these issues.”
Around 10,000 Australians are believed to be either living or holidaying in Israel.
