Tokyo: Japan’s Foreign Ministry has announced that direct flights between the Asian nation and Israel will be suspended for a while, following an escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

As of now, the ministry said that it expects such flights to be suspended until March next year. The final flight for the time being left Israel on Wednesday.

The ministry urged Japanese nationals wanting to leave Israel to use other commercial flights to fly out of the country as soon as possible.

Israeli airline El Al had operated direct flights twice a week connecting Tel Aviv with Narita International Airport near Tokyo.

According to the ministry, the number of commercial flights departing from Tel Aviv per day has dropped to 40 or less in response to the deteriorating situation of the region.

Japan currently has a Self-Defense Forces aircraft waiting in Jordan, which neighbors Israel, on standby for a possible evacuation of Japanese nationals. There are around 800 Japanese citizens currently in Israel and Palestine. 

JIJI Press