Swiss airline, others suspend flights to Israel over clash with Hamas

BERLIN – The airline Swiss, a Lufthansa subsidiary, has said it is suspending its flights to Israel from Saturday evening until further notice, citing security concerns.

Swiss Air announcement comes hours after the Palestinian militant organization Hamas fired 2,200 rockets into Israel, prompting the country to retaliate with reprisals and a declaration of war. There are reports of many casualties, both civilians and military.

Swiss said that two flights from Zurich to Tel Aviv and back were still due to take off in the afternoon before the suspension takes effect, depending on the situation.

Its parent company Lufthansa said it is reducing flights to Israel this Saturday “against the backdrop of the current security situation in Tel Aviv.” It did not provide additional details or say which flights would be cancelled.

On the homepage of Frankfurt airport, Lufthansa’s two planned departures to Tel Aviv were shown as cancelled on Saturday.

Back in Switzerland, the Foreign Ministry issued a travel advisory recommending against trips to Israel.

“Until the situation is clarified, tourist and other non-urgent travel to Israel is advised against”, it posted on its website on Saturday. “A deterioration of the security situation cannot be ruled out.”

It said those already there should minimize travel within the country.

The Swiss government condemned the attacks. “We call for an immediate end to the violence,” the Foreign Ministry wrote on the platform X, formerly Twitter.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Defence Forces ( IDF) is continuing to strike in the Gaza Strip including a rocket launch site, operational command centres and targeted a number of terrorists.

Over the past hours, IDF aircraft struck a concealed launch site and targeted two terrorists near it. In addition, a terrorist cell was identified attempting to infiltrate Israeli territory from the sea and were targeted by IDF aircraft.

Additional terrorists and vehicles were identified attempting to infiltrate the security fence from the Gaza Strip into Israel and were targeted by IDF aircraft. IDF fighter jets also struck an operational command center belonging of the rocket system operatives of the Hamas terrorist organization and an operational command post belonging to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.

However, the Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Secretary reiterated the United States’ unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel,  and called on all leadership in the region to condemn them.   The Secretary urged the Palestinian Authority to continue and enhance steps to restore calm and stability in the West Bank.