First Official EgyptAir Flight Lands in Tel Aviv

EgyptAir greeted with the traditional water sprays shot in the air in celebration of its first flight
EgyptAir greeted with the traditional water sprays shot in the air in celebration of its first flight
TT

First Official EgyptAir Flight Lands in Tel Aviv

EgyptAir greeted with the traditional water sprays shot in the air in celebration of its first flight
EgyptAir greeted with the traditional water sprays shot in the air in celebration of its first flight

EgyptAir made its first official direct flight to Israel and landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.

The Israeli Embassy in Cairo tweeted that direct flights are "an important and welcome sign of strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries, especially economic relations."

It welcomed the resumption of flights after a long suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sunday's flight was greeted with the traditional water sprays shot in the air in celebration. The Israeli embassy published photos of the arrival on its social media accounts.

Since Israel and Egypt signed a peace deal in 1979, flights between the two countries have been offered by a subsidiary of Egyptair, Air Sinai, created exclusively for that purpose in 1982.

Egyptair will now run four flights per week into Israel under its banner, Israeli Airport Authority (IAA) spokesman Ofer Lefler told AFP.

He called Sunday's landing "a historic first."

The move comes after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Egypt last month for talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Thousands of Israeli tourists typically visit Egypt annually, including the Sinai desert and the Red Sea resorts.

Last month, Israeli media reported that the state-owned EgyptAir would start operating direct flights between Cairo and Tel Aviv, starting in early October.

Israeli Transport Minister Merav Michaeli announced her government lifted a daily cap of 1,200 Israelis allowed to pass through its Taba border crossing to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

"We have managed to find a way to both allow unlimited crossings and also observe coronavirus regulations,” The Times of Israel quoted the minister as saying.



Hezbollah's Safieddine 'Unreachable' Since Friday

A damaged vehicle lies amidst the rubble in the aftermath of the Israeli strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in the Chiyah area of Dahiyeh, Beirut, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
A damaged vehicle lies amidst the rubble in the aftermath of the Israeli strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in the Chiyah area of Dahiyeh, Beirut, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
TT

Hezbollah's Safieddine 'Unreachable' Since Friday

A damaged vehicle lies amidst the rubble in the aftermath of the Israeli strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in the Chiyah area of Dahiyeh, Beirut, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki
A damaged vehicle lies amidst the rubble in the aftermath of the Israeli strikes, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in the Chiyah area of Dahiyeh, Beirut, October 5, 2024. REUTERS/Louisa Gouliamaki

Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs since Friday have kept rescue workers from searching the site of an Israeli strike suspected to have killed Hezbollah’s anticipated next leader, three Lebanese security sources told Reuters on Saturday.
One of the sources said Safieddine, widely expected to succeed slain leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, had been unreachable since the strike on Friday.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.