Australian citizens seeking to return from Israel are expected to be offered a further flight next week while two Qantas flights will start evacuating Australians on Friday.
An estimated 10,000 Australian residents and tourists were believed to be in Israel when the militant group Hamas launched the surprise dawn attack on Saturday night.
Australian authorities are still trying to ascertain their status and bring home those who want to leave.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her department was working through the details of further action.
“We are seeking to arrange a further flight likely to be early next week,” she told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
Israel’s death toll reached 1,200 with more than 2,700 wounded
, its military said, from Hamas gunmen’s hours-long rampage after breaching the fence around Gaza on Saturday.
Retaliatory strikes on the blockaded enclave have killed 1,100 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,000, officials say.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said there would likely be a large demand for the flights.
Major airlines have since suspended or cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv.
Asked if defence force planes were a better option than commercial aircraft after British Airways stopped flights to Tel Aviv as rockets flew over the city, O’Neil said the foreign minister was working through the details.
Wong said the government had looked at all options, including the Air Force.
Options are being worked on for Australians who need onward support from London. The planes are likely to be Boeing 787s, which carry about 250 people.
“My government will begin the assisted departure of Australians who want to leave Israel,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
“We are assessing all options to get Australians home as soon as possible who wish to travel back here.”
Australians who want to make use of those assisted departure flights must register with the
federal government’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre through their hotline.
The prime minister, defence minister and home affairs minister said they would not comment on the timing of national security cabinet meetings.
But O’Neil said she and the prime minister were briefed daily by security officials.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. Some countries list only its military wing as a terrorist group.
(SBS)
