Hamas-Israel conflict live updates: Australia cancels evacuation flights out of Israel as IDF tells Gaza City residents to leave

Australia has just announced the cancellation of Saturday and Sunday’s planned evacuation flights out of Israel, citing the “highly challenging and rapidly changing” situation.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced the cancellations shortly after 7pm AEDT on Saturday.

“The Australian Government is working to ensure Australians who want to leave can do so as soon as possible. We will communicate to registered Australians about next available flights,” the department said in a statement.

The Australian government said earlier in the day that it was arranging bus transport out of Ramallah and into Jordan for Australians in the West Bank.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said 850 registered Australians and their families had left Israel.

Thanks for following our live coverage of the crisis in Israel and Gaza. We will take a break from posting live updates on this blog until tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age for major updates.

Qantas has said it based its decision to cancel planned flights out of Tel Aviv on fresh assessments of the deteriorating security situation in Israel.

Foreign Minister Wong described the flight cancellations as “very distressing news” and said Australia would look for alternative ways to evacuate its citizens from Israel.

Qantas has cancelled humanitarian flights out of Tel Aviv.Credit: AFR

Qantas has been running constant safety assessments for its planned flights to Tel Aviv in consultation with government agencies,” the company said.

“Based on latest assessments, the difficult decision has been made not to operate the second flight to Tel Aviv on Sunday due to continued deterioration of conditions on the ground in Israel for safety reasons.”

Speaking on Sky News, Wong said the cancellations were “very distressing news”.

“I spent a lot of time on the phones today to see if there was any way we could find alternatives, and I understand how distressing this is for people,” she said.

“Unfortunately, these fights were not able to proceed as we had originally hoped. The situation on the ground is obviously very volatile, and it is changing rapidly. We will keep working to try and ensure additional flights.”

Australia has just announced the cancellation of Saturday and Sunday’s planned evacuation flights out of Israel, citing the “highly challenging and rapidly changing” situation.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced the cancellations shortly after 7pm AEDT on Saturday.

“The Australian Government is working to ensure Australians who want to leave can do so as soon as possible. We will communicate to registered Australians about next available flights,” the department said in a statement.

The Australian government said earlier in the day that it was arranging bus transport out of Ramallah and into Jordan for Australians in the West Bank.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said 850 registered Australians and their families had left Israel.

Residents of Gaza’s north have been given a six-hour window to move south along two roads in the enclave, with a senior member of the Israeli military issuing the instruction on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday afternoon.

Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee wrote in Arabic that the Israel Defence Forces “will allow movement on the indicated streets without any harm between the hours of 10:00 and 16:00”. It is after 11am in Israel and Gaza.

Palestinians fleeing to the southern Gaza Strip following Israel’s evacuation order.Credit: AP

Adraee included a map of Gaza in his message, detailing the two roads he said Gazans should use to travel south of Wadi Gaza.

“If you care about yourself and your loved ones, go south as instructed. Rest assured that Hamas leaders have taken care of themselves and are taking cover from strikes in the region,” he wrote.

Israel gave Gazans 24 hours on Friday to head into the southern part of the enclave, ahead of a threatened ground operation by the military. The United Nations said would be “impossible” for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences.

Reporters Rachael Dexter and Melissa Cunningham have profiled some of the people who will rally for Palestine in Melbourne on Sunday.

One of them is a former Israeli soldier, Nachshon Amir, now living in Melbourne. For years, Amir manned checkpoints in the Gaza Strip and West Bank and burst into Palestinian homes during the night to frighten people.

He is part of a loose and somewhat unlikely coalition – socialists, Christians, Muslims, Indigenous activists, Jews and Arabs, all walking together on Sunday in Melbourne to support a free Palestine.

Those interviewed have different opinions about Hamas, the militant group responsible for last week’s atrocities in Israel, but all agree that Palestinians deserve the right to freedom.

Clockwise from main: Nachshon Amir, Muayad Ali and Adel Salman say they will join the Free Palestine rally in Melbourne on Sunday.Credit: Simon Schluter, Jason South

The Albanese government has announced it will provide an initial $10 million in humanitarian aid for civilians affected by the conflict in Gaza.

The aid money includes $3 million for the International Committee of the Red Cross, to restore essential services and provide medical support.

Palestinians flee Gaza City after Israeli air strikes on Friday.Credit: AFP

A further $7 million will go to United Nations agencies that deliver emergency water, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene, as well as child protection.

Here is Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s statement:

“We have seen devastating loss of innocent life since the heinous attacks on Israel by brutal terrorist group Hamas.

Far from representing the Palestinian people, Hamas undermines Palestinian needs and aspirations.

We continue to call for the unconditional release of all hostages. We stand with Israel and reiterate its right to defend itself.

President [Joe] Biden has called on Israel to operate by the rules of war in its response to Hamas attacks - we join him and others in that call.

We call for safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to civilians affected by the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

We call for the establishment of a corridor to enable humanitarian needs to be met. And we support the work of the United States, Egypt and others towards this goal.

Adherence to international humanitarian law must be prioritised – including the protection of civilians, wherever they live.”

Our reporter in the Middle East, Lucy Cormack, has filed this report on the extraordinary network of tunnels beneath Gaza, which Hamas has long used for the movement of weapons and armed combatants.

An armed guard inside one of the tunnels on the Gaza-Israeli border.Credit: Getty

The Israeli military says schools, hospitals and mosques are used as common entry points to the extensive network, parts of which the IDF has periodically targeted and explored – discovering everything from dirt tracks to concrete tunnels with lights.

Targeting the underground maze, however, will not be easy, Cormack writes. Past attempts have been hampered by the fact that no one except Hamas knows their full extent.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday that the Israeli military needed to give more time to 1 million people to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of any military action.

During a visit to China, Josep Borrell welcomed the warning to evacuate, but said the tight timeframe could create a humanitarian crisis given the lack of shelters and transportation.

Palestinians were fleeing in a mass exodus after Israel’s military told people to evacuate to the southern part of the besieged Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground invasion.

With AP

In its editorial today, The Age argues that while Israel has a right to defend itself following Hamas’ murderous assault on its citizens, it should think extremely carefully about enmeshing itself in a long and deadly ground war in Gaza.

“Israel does have a right to respond. The brutal manner in which innocent Jewish citizens were killed has rightly shocked the world. But Israel does need to think clearly about the long-term consequences of a ground invasion into Gaza.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the Australian government is working to arrange bus transport for Australians from the West Bank city of Ramallah to neighbouring Jordan.

“We know not everyone who wants to leave can get to the airport for Australian government assisted-departure flights and that the security situation is very dangerous in some areas,” Wong said on X, formerly known as Twitter, this afternoon.

Palestinians fleeing to the southern Gaza Strip following Israel’s evacuation order.Credit: AP

“Australians wanting to leave via land crossings should check the status of crossings prior to leaving,” Wong said.

She said 850 previously registered Australians and their families have left Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories.