The State Department announced on Wednesday the raising of the travel advisory for Israel and the West Bank to Level 3. The US is urging its citizens to reconsider travelling there amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Prior to the outbreak of military conflict in the region, Israel and the West Bank were among the places with a Level 1 tourist advisory: citizens were advised to observe normal precautions when travelling.
The advisory for travellers to the Gaza Strip has now been upgraded to “Level 4 – Do Not Travel.”
The State Department officials explained:
Terrorists and violent extremists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities. Violence can occur in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza without warning.
The change in the travel advisory level follows the Hamas terrorist attack on Saturday morning. Palestinian terrorists murdered some 1,200 people in southern Israel, took “between 100 and 150” hostages to Gaza, and wounded about 3,000 people.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported that 1,300 people in the Palestinian enclave had been killed as a result of Israeli retaliatory strikes on terrorist infrastructure and all areas where Hamas was operating or hiding. Israeli officials claimed killing some 1,500 Hamas terrorists who had infiltrated its territory since Saturday.
Deadly confrontations have taken place on Israel’s northern border in recent days, some blamed on Palestinian terrorist groups operating in Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon and others on Hezbollah itself.
