Intrepid Travel, G Adventures, Newmarket Holidays and Riviera Travel have all taken steps to safeguard their customers and offer those with future bookings reassurance.

Confirming the current on-the-ground situation, Intrepid Travel managing director EMEA, Zina Bencheikh, said: “Intrepid had 50 travellers in Israel when violence broke out on Saturday. All travellers and tour leaders were safely accounted for. 

“We have 16 tours in Israel and have decided to cancel all our trips until the end of the month as the violence in the region continues. At this stage, our trips in the wider Middle East, such as in Egypt and Jordan, are operating as normal. Government travel advisories for Egypt and Jordan remain unchanged, and both countries remain open for tourism.” 

She added: “Safety is of course our top priority and we’re closely monitoring the situation. Our thoughts are with the people of Israel and the Palestinian Territories at this awful time, and we send our condolences to all those who have lost loved ones.”

The Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and extended this advisory to Lebanon on Tuesday (10 October).

G Adventures has cancelled six tours in Israel departing up to Friday (15 October). “All of our staff are safe, and travellers on the ground who were due to join an upcoming trip are being contacted to ensure they are accounted for," a spokesperson told TTG.

“We’re reaching out to impacted travellers to update them on the situation and are advising those who are in Israel ahead of their trip to adhere to instructions from local authorities, register their presence with their embassy or consulate and begin making arrangements to leave the country as soon as possible.” 

Saga Travel said it would follow FCDO advice and confirmed it had no tours currently going on in Israel.

Riviera Travel confirmed to TTG all of its customers were home safely. It has cancelled affected future departures, stressing it would work with customers in order of date of travel. It is continuing to operate to Amman and Petra in Jordan, although all Jerusalem add-ons have been cancelled.

Newmarket Holidays said it didn’t have any tours in Israel when the fighting broke out, and confirmed it had cancelled its remaining tours for the rest of the year. It will monitor the situation before making any further decisions on tours to Israel and Palestine.

Air travel impact

Airlines, meanwhile, are monitoring the situation, while some of have paused operations and cancelled flights amid the deadly conflict. 

Virgin Atlantic has cancelled one of its two daily frequencies to Tel Aviv on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The carrier is allowing passengers with reservations up to 28 October to rebook by 4 November or receive a full refund.

A spokesperson added there were no diversions in place for Virgin’s flights to other destinations.

British Airways said it was monitoring the situation “very closely”, adding: “[We] have introduced a flexible booking policy, enabling customers to change their travel dates free of charge if they wish.

“Flights are currently planned to operate over the coming days with adjusted departure times.” 

EasyJet has paused flights to and from Tel Aviv until Friday (13 October). Affected customers have been contacted.

Any flight-only easyJet customers whose flights have been cancelled will be able to request a voucher for the full value of their flight, a refund, or transfer their flights free of charge to a future date.

EasyJet holidays customers due to travel up to 21 October have the option to change their destination with no change fee, or cancel their holiday in exchange for the full cost back as easyJet holidays credit to put towards an alternative holiday at a later date.

Wizz Air said it had cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv “until further notice”. “We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and are in touch with the relevant authorities,” said Wizz.