Israel optimistic US will ‘soon’ ease travel advisory, officials say

Jerusalem has been leaning on the Trump administration to ease the US travel advisory for Israel and is optimistic that it will be updated “soon,” officials from the respective countries told The Times of Israel.

The travel advisory has been at level three — “reconsider travel” — since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught and the ensuing war against Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has for months been seeking to have the advisory lowered to at least a level two — “exercise increased caution” — as it seeks to encourage tourism to the country, a US official and an Israeli official said.

The Biden administration held off on heeding the Israeli request, as the war in Gaza dragged on, the officials said.

With the entry of US President Donald Trump into the White House and a Gaza ceasefire currently in place, Jerusalem has intensified its efforts to get the travel advisory lowered.

Israel has managed to convince the US Embassy in Jerusalem to get behind the idea, and the mission has been recommending to the State Department back in Washington that the advisory be lowered, the US official said.

The Israeli official speculated that the Trump administration is waiting to see how efforts to maintain the Gaza ceasefire hold in the days and weeks ahead before making the decision, while adding that the hold-up may be more bureaucratic in nature.

The Israeli initiative may have taken a hit last week, though, after three empty buses exploded in quick succession in central Israel parking lots in what police said was a suspected terror attack.

The next day, the US Embassy in Jerusalem issued a directive to all of its staff barring them and their family members from using public buses and the light rail for two weeks.

The UK, China and Japan were first to soften their travel warnings to Israel in December, as a fragile ceasefire reached with Hezbollah took hold.

A potential announcement by the US would likely boost air travel to Israel.

Since war broke following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught on southern Israeli communities, foreign airlines have repeatedly canceled and resumed their flights to and from Israel amid fighting with Gaza-based terror groups, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, direct missile and drone attacks from Iran, and assaults from Tehran’s regional proxies including Yemen’s Houthis.

The situation has meant that Israeli airlines, particularly El Al, had a near-monopoly on many routes, with high prices.

Since the hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas took effect last month a few foreign airlines, including US carriers have announced plans to resume part of their services to and from Israel in the coming weeks.

United Airlines is set to resume its flight services to Israel on March 15 and Delta Air Lines is scheduled to restart its Tel Aviv-New York route on April 1.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.