Israeli flag carrier announced Thursday it would operate “special flights” to bring back reserve soldiers on the Jewish day of rest, a rare move for El Al amid deadly war with Gaza militants.
“El Al will operate special flights from New York and Bangkok on Friday” to retrieve reservists, rescuers, medics and members of the security forces “whose arrival into the country is vital,” Israel’s national carrier said in a statement.
The flights, which are expected to land at Ben Gurion airport after the start of the Sabbath on Friday evening, would be free of charge and financed by the airline along with “major US financial institutions”, it added without elaborating.
While some Israeli airlines fly on the Sabbath, when many businesses are closed and observant Jews refrain from driving and using electricity, the flag carrier has not done so in decades.
The last time El Al flew on a Saturday was in 1982, according to Israeli media, when Israel launched a major incursion into civil-war wracked Lebanon to attack Palestinian militants.
A spokeswoman for the airline did not respond to AFP requests for comment.
El Al has cancelled scheduled flights in recent years after delays in departure times that would have meant planes would only land after the start of the Sabbath.
Multiple foreign airlines have cancelled Tel Aviv-bound flights since Hamas militants early Saturday launched a surprise assault on Israel’s south from the Gaza Strip, which has since spiralled into an all-out war.
Israel’s army has hammered Hamas with thousands of strikes ahead of what is widely expected to be a ground invasion of the crowded territory, after Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and took about 150 hostages during the weekend attack.
More than 1,350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as Israel has levelled entire city blocks and destroyed thousands of buildings in the six days since Hamas militants launched their shock attack.
According to official statements, Israeli operators have added rescue flights for Israelis seeking to return from abroad, either to join the fighting or to be in the country with loved ones.
The military has also brought back hundreds of combat reserve soldiers aboard cargo planes.
