Egypt's Air Sinai cancels flights to Tel Aviv

An informed source in the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation has revealed that the private Egyptian airline Air Sinai, the only Egyptian company that flies to Israel, decided to cancel its flights scheduled on Thursday from Cairo to the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv due to the deteriorating security situation in Israel and the war on Gaza.

In remarks to Anadolu news agency, the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, explained that “Air Sinai is the only Egyptian company that runs direct flights to Tel Aviv,” noting that the company has two flights every week to and from Tel Aviv.

The news agency contacted the company, but was not able to get an immediate comment.

Turkish, American, Canadian and European airlines announced on Tuesday that all flights to Israel would be suspended due to security problems at the Ben Gurion International Airport.

The flight suspension came after warning sirens have repeatedly gone off in Tel Aviv over the past few days in response to Palestinian rocket attacks on the city.

Concerned about losses to the tourism sector, Israel state television Channel One reported that Israeli airlines would intensify their flights, doubling them to make up for the deficit resulting from the suspension of international flights in and out of the country.

17 days ago, Israel launched a relentless military offensive against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which was expanded last Thursday to include a limited ground incursion, accompanied by heavy artillery, air and sea raids.

Since then, the war has resulted in the killing of more than 700 Palestinians and the injury of more than 4,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Israeli aggression has also destroyed more than 1,000 homes, causing partial damages to another 19,070 structures, of which 994 have now become “uninhabitable”, according to preliminary information released by the Palestinian Ministry of Public Works and Housing.

On the other hand, 29 Israeli soldiers were killed along with two civilians, and 435 were wounded, mostly due to “panic” from sirens, according to the official data released by the Israeli army and police. Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, claims that it has actually killed 52 Israeli soldiers and kidnapped one other.