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Britain, France, Germany and Poland on Friday warned against non-vital travel to Israel and the West Bank, joining multiple countries, including the US and China, that have issued warnings against travel to the region amid soaring tensions with Iran.
The UK Foreign Office said it has temporarily withdrawn embassy staff from Iran, and that the embassy there would keep working remotely.
The Foreign Office also said it has moved diplomatic staff in Israel and their dependents from Tel Aviv to another unnamed location in the country. The embassy in Israel was operating as normal but the situation “could escalate quickly and poses significant risks,” said the Foreign Office.
“We have taken the precautionary measure to temporarily move some of our staff and their dependents from Tel Aviv to another location within Israel,” the Foreign Office said in an update to its travel advice for Israel, which also called on UK citizens to avoid “all but essential” travel there.
France’s foreign ministry also reiterated its advice to nationals to refrain from traveling to Israel and the West Bank, and recommended that French citizens already there show vigilance, identify shelters and stay away from public gatherings.
And Germany’s foreign ministry, which has already warned nationals against travel to Iran, said in an advisory on its website Friday that “travel to Israel and East Jerusalem is urgently discouraged.”
Poland’s foreign ministry called on citizens to immediately leave Israel, Iran and Lebanon.
“The security situation in the Middle East is unstable. The risk of escalation is high! Airspace for civilian traffic may be closed. Return by air may be impossible or significantly hindered,” it said in three X posts about the Middle Eastern countries.
Meanwhile, Italy’s foreign ministry urged citizens to leave Iran and advised extreme caution across the Middle East, citing persistently unstable security conditions.
“Italians in (Iran) for tourism or whose presence is not strictly necessary are urged to depart,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that travel to Iraq and Lebanon — both of which are home to powerful Iranian proxy groups — is also strongly discouraged. It also advised Italian nationals in Israel to exercise maximum caution and remain vigilant.
The warnings came as US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Friday told embassy staff who wished to leave the country to do so “TODAY,” a day after the third round of indirect US-Iran nuclear talks, which US President Donald Trump described as unsatisfactory.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack the Islamic Republic, first over its bloody crackdown on anti-regime protesters last month and more recently over its refusal to halt its nuclear program.
He has ordered a large military buildup in the region, with US fighter jets deploying at an Israeli air base and USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, set to arrive off Israel’s northern coast, near the port city of Haifa.
Israel is preparing for the possibility that it will be targeted in a retaliatory Iranian strike and find itself fighting alongside the US.
During the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June, the Islamic Republic launched over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel, killing 32 people and wounding over 3,000, according to health officials and hospitals.
In all, there were 36 missile impacts and one drone strike in populated areas, causing damage to 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced.
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