War between Israel and Hamas: Air France plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv from January 24

Since October 7, Air France has not provided communications with Israel to the general public. The French airline plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv on January 24, suspended following the Hamas attack on Israel, it announced on Tuesday.

“Air France plans to resume flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Tel Aviv from January 24, operating three flights a week on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays,” the company said in a statement. This flight program will be much smaller than what existed before October 7, which was two daily flights on wide-body Airbus A350 aircraft.

Safety, “absolute priority”

In addition, “Air France reaffirms that the safety of its customers and crew is its absolute priority. The company constantly monitors the development of the geopolitical situation in the territories served and flown by its aircraft in order to ensure the highest level of flight safety and security,” the company emphasized.

For its part, Transavia, the low-cost subsidiary of the Air France-KLM group, which has also suspended its flights, “is currently working on its flight program to consider the possibility of resuming flights to Tel Aviv from the beginning of February.” a spokesman said Tuesday evening.

Air France’s announcement came a day after the date previously announced by German group Lufthansa to resume flights with Israel. “The group’s airlines will offer” from January 8 “a total of 20 weekly flights to and from Tel Aviv,” or 30% of the usual program, the German company, which also owns the company, said on December 15. Swiss SWISS.

Lots of broken connections

Many other airlines have stopped flying to Israel following deadly Hamas raids and rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, especially towards Tel Aviv. At the beginning of the conflict, Air France operated several routes between Israel and France, but these were special flights chartered by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to repatriate French citizens. The Israeli company El Al, in turn, maintained its flights.

The conflict between Hamas and Israel entered its fourth month on Sunday. The unprecedented October 7 attack by a Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip killed some 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to AFP, based on Israeli data.

In response, Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, launched an offensive into the Palestinian territory with massive bombing and ground operations. Since the ground offensive began on Oct. 27, 185 Israeli soldiers have been killed, including nine on Monday, according to a report released Tuesday. Israeli strikes in the Palestinian territory have killed more than 23,210 people, mostly women, teenagers and children, according to a Hamas report on Tuesday.