As the Israeli army prepares for a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, Austria has issued a travel warning for the parts of Israel bordering the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria. Meanwhile, Syria’s Aleppo airport was hit by rockets for the second time, and the runway that had just been repaired is once again unusable. Syria blames Israel for this.
The airport in the Syrian capital, Damascus, has not yet been repaired after an Israeli attack. The Israeli army also claims to have attacked several targets in Syria. After an aerial alarm in the towns of Avnei Eitan and Alma in the annexed Golan Heights, the army is attacking targets in Syria where the shelling came from, an army spokesman said on Saturday night. Additionally, reports of an air raid from Lebanon are being investigated.
In light of the escalation in the region, the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs increased the security level for Israel from 4 “high security risk” to 5 “partial travel alert” for the areas of Israel around the Gaza Strip and along the Israeli border with Lebanon and Syria and warns against all travel there. Austrians in Israel must follow the instructions of the Israeli authorities, follow the news and report to the embassy in Tel Aviv or register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at https://auslandsregistrierung.bmeia.gv.at/#.
Although Austria has already completed its evacuation flights, two German Bundeswehr planes are currently on the return flight from Israel to Germany to repatriate German citizens. There were a total of 80 passengers on board the two A400M military transporters, the Bundeswehr announced on Sunday evening via the online platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The first plane with 51 passengers took off from Tel Aviv at 23:00 (CEST), the second with 29 passengers almost three hours later. “Other flights are in preparation,” he said.
In Germany, the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser (SPD), spoke out in favor of the expulsion of supporters of the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas from Germany. “We will use all legal options to expel Hamas supporters,” she told “Bild am Sonntag”. She received support from SPD President Lars Klingbeil, who said in the “Funke Mediengruppe” newspapers that “if someone who celebrates Hamas on German streets does not have German citizenship, then he should be expelled from Germany.” democratic consensus in our society that we condemn the barbaric terror of Hamas.” But one should not generally condemn Arabs or Muslims in Germany for the terror of Hamas.