Key Points
- Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed multiple repatriation flights are scheduled to depart Tel Aviv on Sunday.
- Wong has urged Australians in Lebanon to consider whether remaining in the country is essential.
- The warning comes amid deadly clashes on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has announced additional repatriation flights out of Tel Aviv for Australians and issued a new travel warning amid heightened tensions at Israel's northern border.
The federal government has secured a mixture of aircrafts out of the region, following cancellations on Saturday due to a "highly challenging and rapidly changing situation".
"This afternoon I can confirm that the Australian government is planning flights to depart from Tel Aviv for Australians wanting to leave.
It was hoped the flights, made up of government-chartered and air force planes, would depart on Sunday, but Wong warned they remain "subject to factors including the security environment".
She urged the 1,234 Australians seeking repatriation to get on the first flight available, given the changing nature of the situation.
Wong also announced upgraded amid fears the Israel-Hamas conflict could spread to another front, with clashes at Israel's northern border with Lebanon the deadliest they have been in 17 years.
"I am now saying to Australians if you are in Lebanon, you should consider whether your need to remain there is essential," Wong said.
"If you wish to leave, you should consider the first available option."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has told Lebanese militant group Hezbolla not to start a war on a second front, threatening the "destruction of Lebanon" if it did.
, after telling Palestinians living in the densely populated territory to flee south towards a closed border with Egypt.
Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas in retaliation for a rampage in which its fighters stormed through Israeli towns a week ago, shooting civilians and seizing scores of hostages in the worst attack on civilians in Israel's history.
Some 1,300 people were killed in the brutal onslaught that shocked Israel.
In response, Israeli jets and artillery have subjected Gaza to the most intense bombardment it has ever seen, putting the enclave, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under total siege.
Gaza authorities say more than 2,300 people have been killed, a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 wounded. Rescue workers searched desperately for survivors of nighttime air raids.
The significant escalation is the latest boiling point in a long-standing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, gaining power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006.
Hamas' stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Some countries list only its military wing as a terrorist group.
Over 200 Australians and their families were on board the first Australian government-assisted departure flight, which landed in London on Saturday morning. Credit: Douglas Ferguson / DFAT
"I think Israel is acting within the rules of war. I'm not casting a negative judgement on what they're doing," he then clarified.
"I'm not sitting in their control room either. I don't have all the information available to me that they will have to them, obviously.
"But it is very important that as Israel walks forward, while having the right to defend itself - and that means acting against Hamas - they do act within the rules of war."
The landed in London at about 7am Sydney time on Saturday with 238 Australians and their families on board.
