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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 625

Miri Regev

First plane operated by El Al bringing back Israelis from Larnaca arrives at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, June 18, 2025. (video screenshot/courtesy of Israel Airports Authority)
Carriers expand airlift to bring Israelis home; outbound flights set to begin Monday
By Sharon Wrobel
Subject to approval by a government-led exceptions committee, diplomats, tourists, foreign youth and sports groups stranded in Israel will be able to return home from next week
Israeli passengers on Arkia's first repatriation flight leaving from Larnaca to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport on June 18, 2025. (Courtesy Arkia)
First repatriation flights spirit Israelis home from Cyprus as air mission takes off
By Sharon Wrobel and Rossella Tercatin
An El Al flight takes off from Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, June 19, 2025. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
June 20, 2025, 9:50 pm
Israel is set to start outbound flights Monday as more than 50,000 citizens return home
Diplomats, tourists, youth and sports groups stuck are poised to depart on half-full planes; thousands of Israelis return home via air, sea and land border crossings
By Sharon Wrobel
First plane operated by El Al bringing back Israelis from Larnaca arrives at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport, June 18, 2025. (video screenshot/courtesy of Israel Airports Authority)
June 19, 2025, 11:32 pm
Carriers expand airlift to bring Israelis home; outbound flights set to begin Monday
Subject to approval by a government-led exceptions committee, diplomats, tourists, foreign youth and sports groups stranded in Israel will be able to return home from next week
By Sharon Wrobel
Israeli passengers on Arkia's first repatriation flight leaving from Larnaca to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport on June 18, 2025. (Courtesy Arkia)
June 18, 2025, 12:24 pm
First repatriation flights spirit Israelis home from Cyprus as air mission takes off
El Al, Arkia, and Israir planes from Larnaca and more flights from around Europe land at Ben Gurion Airport; will gradually bring back 100,000 people stranded abroad by war
By Sharon Wrobel and Rossella Tercatin
El Al airplanes on the tarmac at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport, October 4, 2022. (Moshe Shai/ Flash90/ File)
June 16, 2025, 7:34 pm
Israel embarks on plan to bring more than 100,000 Israelis stuck abroad safely home
El Al opens registration for stranded passengers to map return flights; Arkia creates flight schedule for Israelis to return from Athens, Larnaca, Rome, Paris and New York
By Sharon Wrobel
Transportation Minister Miri Regev holds a press conference ahead of Israel's 77th Independence Day Ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, on April 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 16, 2025, 6:11 pm
Israelis stranded abroad should ‘enjoy’ extra away time, transport minister says
Regev says bringing back roughly 100,000 Israelis will take time, to mitigate risk of planes being attacked; Israelis seeking to leave will not yet be allowed to
By Sharon Wrobel and ToI Staff
Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, June 13, 2025. (Roy Alima/Flash90)
June 16, 2025, 12:26 pm
150,000 Israelis stranded abroad; airline heads warn government rescue plan falls short
Outbound travel to remain banned in apparent effort to prevent crowds at Ben Gurion Airport, already a target; flights to Israel not expected to begin before Thursday at earliest
By Sharon Wrobel and ToI Staff
A British Airways flight takes off from Ben Gurion International Airport, September 3, 2014. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)
May 23, 2025, 6:56 pm
British Airways extends flight suspension until July 31, as Aegean returns
Air France extends halt until May 26 at least, as foreign carriers struggle with decision on resuming flights; past week saw return of Wizz Air and Delta
By ToI Staff
Travelers lining up to check in for flights at Ben Gurion Airport, May 7, 2025. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
May 13, 2025, 5:56 pm
Foreign airlines demand passenger compensation changes to lure them back to Israel
In letter to transportation minister, 20 carriers say aviation law providing indemnity for passengers was not designed for extended period of emergency, like the ongoing war
By Sharon Wrobel
Travelers lining up to check in for flights at Ben Gurion Airport, May 7, 2025. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)
May 9, 2025, 1:31 pm
Regev meets with Israeli airline heads as cancellations strand citizens abroad
Carriers continue to nix flights after Houthi attack on Ben Gurion Airport, with most foreign airlines still staying away
By Sharon Wrobel, Reuters and ToI Staff
View of a massive wildfire near Latrun, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, April 30, 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
April 30, 2025, 7:15 pm
Many Independence Day events nixed, public told to avoid cemeteries amid raging wildfires
Official torch-lighting ceremony called off, rehearsal footage being aired instead; flames encroach on decommissioned tanks at Latrun after Memorial Day ceremony hastily evacuated
By ToI Staff
Dana International, Israel's 1998 winner, in her iconic feathered dress, on display at an exhibit open for Eurovision 2019. (Courtesy)
April 24, 2025, 2:11 pm
Conservative groups furious as trans icon Dana International gets Independence Day honor
Eurovision song contest winner says she insisted on being recognized as symbol of liberty and liberalism, as well as culture; two groups ask organizer to remove her from lineup
By ToI Staff
L to R: Israel advocate Ben Cassato is interviewed on Channel 13 on April 11, 2024. (Screenshot via YouTube); Israeli-American NBA player Deni Avdija plays against the New York Knicks on March 30, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger); Rachel Edry from Ofakim is seen outside a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
April 21, 2025, 6:02 pm
NBA player, Oct. 7 folk hero to be honored on Independence Day; singer declines
Yardena Arazi, lamenting wartime division, says she won’t join ‘Rachel from Ofakim,’ Deni Avdija, and 10-year-old Israel advocate at state ceremony on Mount Herzl next week
By Jessica Steinberg and ToI Staff
Left to right: Ben Shapiro speaks on stage during The Daily Wire Presents Backstage Live at Ryman Auditorium on August 14, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jason Davis / Getty Images via AFP); Freed hostage Emily Damari being prepped for surgery at Sheba Medical Center on March 2, 2025.(Credit Pomi Ofi Tal); Oren Smadga at the 2024 Paris Olympics on July 30, 2024. (Olympic Committee of Israel)
April 20, 2025, 11:29 pm
Ben Shapiro to be honored at Independence Day event alongside ex-hostage, IDF officers
Choice of right-wing American pundit met with backlash from LGBT rights group; also tapped are freed hostage Emily Damari and Olympic medalist and bereaved father Oren Smadga
By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in the plenum hall of the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on March 26, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 31, 2025, 12:55 am
Report: Ben Gvir mocked by cabinet colleagues for overzealous demands to punish Gaza
Minister said to call for cutting off all power, including private generators, leading one top official to quip that Israel might also ‘turn off the sun’; Shin Bet, Mossad chiefs skip meeting
By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi at an Economic Affairs committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on December 18, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
February 25, 2025, 10:49 pm
Senior ministers call for resettling Gaza, expelling Palestinians, return to war
Communications Minister Karhi says ‘historic opportunity’ with Trump in White House; Smotrich urges ‘fight until victory;’ Transportation Minister Regev: ‘Take back the territory’
By Jeremy Sharon and ToI Staff
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