BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th May, 2021) Lufthansa decided to temporarily suspend flights to Israel until May 17, though the air traffic will presumably be resumed on May 18, the airline told Sputnik on Friday.
"In the light of the current events, Lufthansa suspends flights to Israel until May 17, flights are expected to resume on May 18," a spokesperson said.
According to the carrier, Lufthansa was supposed to resume air traffic from Saturday, May 15, but "due to the recent developments" in the middle East, the date was postponed. The representative also stressed that the final decision on the resumption of flights will be made based on the assessment of the situation as of Monday, May 17.
A similar decision was made by Swiss Air, which canceled flights from Zurich to Tel Aviv and back until Sunday amid the recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Palestine, the company's spokesman Michael Stief told Sputnik on Friday.
In particular, the airline will not operate Friday's LX 256 Zurich-Tel Aviv flight, as well as the LX 257 flight from Tel Aviv to Zurich scheduled for Saturday morning, according to Stief.
He noted that even though the preliminary date for the resumption of flights is due on Sunday, the company might amend the schedule depending on the situation in the area of the conflict, which the aircraft operator will monitor.
Apart from Lufthansa and Swiss Air, Russia's Aeroflot, Spain's Iberia, and Dutch KLM have also suspended flights to Israel over the ongoing tensions.
The sharpest escalation of the conflict in recent years came following large-scale clashes, which broke out from May 7-10 between Palestinians and Israeli police in two areas of East Jerusalem at once - near the Temple Mount and in the Sheikh Jarrah quarter, where several Arab families are evicted by the Israeli court decision.
Palestinian militants have launched around 1,750 rockets from Gaza toward Israel, which has responded by launching multiple strikes into the Gaza Strip.
