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Governments and airlines are scrambling to arrange extra flights to evacuate thousands of tourists from Israel and repatriate citizens, as the aviation industry faces warnings about insurance costs following the weekend attacks.
According to Reuters, Israel's national airline El Al said it was operating 12 additional flights on October 11 and 12 to and from Athens, Rome, Madrid, Bucharest, New York, Paris, Larnaca and Istanbul. Low-cost airline Sun Dor also planned rescue flights to Istanbul.
The move comes as the death toll on both sides following weekend attacks between Hamas and Israel rose to more than 2,500.
In a separate development, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told reporters that he had brought 34 Czechs back from Israel on a government plane after he stopped in the country on his way back from a conference in Oman.
Denmark said it would also offer to evacuate its citizens from Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories following the Hamas offensive. A Danish foreign ministry spokesman said the country was preparing to send C-130 Hercules military transport planes to Israel.
Some governments are also in discussions with airlines to organize special rescue flights.
According to several sources familiar with the matter, German national airline Lufthansa plans special flights for October 12 and 13 following talks between German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the airline's CEO Carsten Spohr.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Washington is still negotiating with US airlines about flights to Israel.
Norwegian Air, although suspending regular flights to and from Israel until December 19, is organizing an additional flight from Tel Aviv to Oslo to pick up Norwegian and other Nordic citizens.
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