After boarding repatriation charter flights out of Israel, 255 Australian citizens have landed in Dubai en route to Australia following a day of uncertainty amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the government had secured flights to Australia from Dubai, and the government was planning two more flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai on Monday.
The 255 passengers travelled on three charter flights from Tel Aviv – two RAAF planes and one privately contracted flight. The first government-chartered flight departed Tel Aviv at 1.30pm local time on Sunday (9.30pm AEDT), headed for Dubai.
Wong confirmed two more flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai – the first of which is scheduled to leave Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport at 10am local time on Monday – were “subject to factors including the security environment”.
About 1,200 Australian citizens have been assisted in leaving Israel by the Australian government since the conflict began, Wong said. Despite efforts to get Palestinian Australians out of Gaza, some say they are unable to reach rescue buses to Jordan.
Wong urged people to use any available options if they needed to leave.
“[This] may be our last opportunity to conduct an assisted departure flight for the foreseeable future,” she told the Senate on Monday.
“We can’t know how the security situation will unfold,” Wong said.
Two planned flights to evacuate Australians stranded in Israel were cancelled on Saturday amid growing fears of escalating violence in the region.
Wong said some people had cancelled in the last minute, choosing not to take the flights yesterday.
She wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that subject to factors “including security conditions”, the government was planning two flights from Tel Aviv to Dubai on Monday.
Wong said the situation was “highly challenging and rapidly changing”, so people should consider these “might be our last flights for the foreseeable future”.
“For Australians who want to leave, we strongly encourage you to take the first option you can. Please do not wait for a different option,” she said.
The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, said of the 255 people on board the repatriation flights, the vast majority were Australian citizens, plus non-citizen family members.
“We still have a number of people who are in Israel who would like to leave and we are working as a first priority as a government on making sure that we can assist people to leave Israel wherever possible,” O’Neil said.
“What I would say is that this is a very challenging situation, which is growing worse by the day. If you get the opportunity to leave, you need to take that opportunity. Don’t wait for another chance. If you get the chance to leave, leave immediately.”
Similar efforts have been made to get Australian citizens out of Gaza, amid a “very distressing situation”, Wong said, but efforts have not been successful so far.
“We continue to do a lot of engagement with the United States, with Israel [and] with Egypt to try and assure passage for Australians out of Gaza,” she said.
“Obviously the security situation on the ground there is extremely difficult and so far we have not been able to do that. We will continue to do everything we can to arrange that passage.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) did not provide a number of Australians currently in the West Bank, although the ABC reported that 19 people in Gaza are registered to leave with the department.
With no airport in the West Bank, Dfat had organised buses to take Australian citizens from Ramallah to Jordan, due to concerns for these dual nationals’ ability to access flights out of Israel’s Ben Gurion airport.
However, a Palestinian Australian family in the West Bank told the Guardian they are struggling to reach Ramallah for the government-organised buses.
In one case, Australians who had registered for assistance to exit were only given about 12 hours notice before one such bus was due to depart, the family said.
In addition to logistical issues about travelling between Israeli and Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank at short notice, the family – who were registered for the buses – claim Dfat has not provided them with official papers to guarantee them passage through various checkpoints on their way to Ramallah.
“We understand it is difficult to move around at the moment,” Dfat told Australians in the West Bank in an email.
Another bus was scheduled to depart Ramallah for Jordan on Tuesday morning, “but the security situation continues to evolve and buses may be cancelled or changed with little notice”, Dfat said.
“The situation is highly challenging and rapidly changing. The Australian government is working to ensure Australians who want to leave can do so as soon as possible,” a Dfat spokesperson said.
With AAP
