Two flights with British nationals on have left Israel

Two flights have left the country while more flights are expected in the days ahead, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

One flight was a commercial charter flight while an RAF A400M transport plane was also used.

The Ministry of Defence is expected to continue to play a role in supporting the Foreign Office in the charter effort.

The UK is continuing to help vulnerable British nationals leave Israel.

Two charter flights have now left Israel and we expect more to leave in the coming days.

It’s more important than ever than you follow our travel advice and register your presence. pic.twitter.com/Vy02rUsyqL

— James Cleverly???????? (@JamesCleverly) October 14, 2023

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, said: “The UK is continuing to help vulnerable British nationals leave Israel.

“Two charter flights have now left Israel and we expect more to leave in the coming days.

“It’s more important than ever that you follow our travel advice and register your presence.”

An aviation source told the PA news agency that the UK Government had initially failed to organise repatriation flights from Israel due to problems obtaining insurance.

Palestinians were seen fleeing to the southern Gaza Strip (Image: Hatem Moussa/AP/PA)

Originally, a UK-organised flight was planned to arrive at Gatwick Airport on Friday but it was cancelled amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

An attempt to arrange a flight landing at the West Sussex airport at 5.40pm on Friday also failed.

PA understands one of the reasons for the lack of flights is that Titan Airways, the contracted airline, was having difficulties arranging insurance.

This map shows the key locations of the Israel-Hamas warz (Image: PA Graphics)

A Government spokesperson said: “Two flights facilitated by the UK Government have now departed Israel. Further flights are expected to leave in the coming days while commercial options are limited.”

Several airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and Wizz Air, have suspended their flights between Israel and the UK.