Israel seeks cancellation of travel warnings

Israeli diplomats have appealed to various countries to remove travel advisories against visiting the country that were issued during the two-month military campaign against militants in Gaza, a media report said here Monday.

Several countries, including US, Canada, Germany, China, Ireland, the Britain, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, France and Mexico had issued travel warnings cautioning their citizens from visiting Israel during the war. The Gaza offensive took place between July 8 and Aug 26, Xinhua quoted the Ha'aretz daily as saying.

Besides travel warnings, American airlines as well as several European airlines suspended their flights to Tel Aviv in late July for 48 hours, as rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards the Tel Aviv greater area, where the Ben Gurion international airport is located.

The Israeli foreign ministry is concerned that the advisories, which are still effective even a month after a ceasefire agreement ended the fighting, the daily reported.

The warnings issued during the war remained unchanged on websites of international foreign ministries without being updated following the war, stressing the imminent security risk in visiting the region.