The Australian government is hoping “multiple flights” will be able to leave Tel Aviv within hours carrying citizens who want to leave Israel.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, initially announced the plans in a series of posts on social media on Sunday.
“Subject to factors including the security environment, the Australian government is planning multiple flights to depart from Tel Aviv today, for Australians wanting to leave,” she said.
Wong said the government was “coordinating options with partners who are helping their citizens with departures” and was “arranging flights to assist travellers with their onward journey from Dubai to Australia”.
Wong later told reporters the flights would be a mix of RAAF planes and chartered services.
“I repeat the message I have given over a number of days: if Australians wish to leave, we strongly encourage you to take the first option that becomes available to you,” the minister said. “Please do not wait for a different option.”
Wong said the government was continuing to examine options for Australians wanting to leave the occupied Palestinian territories, noting “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is of serious concern and continues to deteriorate”.
She said Saturday’s proposed window for approved foreign nationals to cross through the Egypt border from Gaza “did not eventuate”.
Australians in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories who want to leave and need assistance with departure should register via https://t.co/e6kWiZDH72 or by calling the 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas) or 1300 555 135 (from within Aus).
— Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) October 15, 2023
Earlier on Sunday, the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said there were about 10,000 Australians in Israel with the number of those who had registered for repatriation standing in the “high hundreds”.
Earlier planned evacuation flights had to be abandoned over safety concerns, with the fluid situation making it difficult for the government to commit to one option.
Marles, who is also the defence minister, said if civilian airlines were unable to fly then military flights could be arranged, as they had “greater flexibility”. But he cautioned “there are other circumstances beyond our control”.
Wong told Sky News on Saturday night more than 800 Australians had managed to depart Israel since the onset of the war, including on Qantas flights to London, “but I know that there are many more people who are seeking to leave and I can assure you that the government and officials are working as hard as they can … to arrange flights and to get flights in”.
In response to questions about the escalating situation in the Gaza Strip, Marles said Israel “has a right to act against Hamas” in the wake of its attack on Israel that left 1,300 people dead but said he would not cast “a negative judgment on what they are doing” as he was “not sitting in their control room”.
“It is an absolute tragedy what is now playing out. It’s a tragedy for the innocent Israelis who have been victims of this, but obviously a tragedy for innocent Palestinians who find themselves in the middle of this,” Marles said.
“We join the call of other nations in saying to Israel that it has a right to defend itself, only it needs to do that in a way it acts in accordance with the rules of war.”
Asked about the developing situation during an appearance on ABC Insiders on Sunday, Coalition MP Julian Leeser said Israel had an “absolute right to defend itself” and called for the Australian government to “reconsider” its relationship with Iran.
“Iran is the great disruptor in the Middle East … It is a malevolent force,” Leeser said.
“We’ve seen from our own Iranian diaspora in the last few years the issues of its treatment of women, religious minorities, anyone who doesn’t conform with the regime. Now we have to ask ourselves, why do we maintain this diplomatic relationship?”
The Israeli government warned more than 1 million residents living in northern Gaza to leave by Saturday morning ahead of a military operation into the area. Power, water and the internet had been shut off.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the mass movement of so many people across an active war zone “is extremely dangerous – and in some cases, simply not possible”.
