MARRAKESH: The first direct commercial flight between Israel and Morocco landed in Marrakesh on Sunday, AFP correspondents said, more than seven months after the countries normalized diplomatic relations in a US-brokered deal.
About 100 passengers from Tel Aviv arrived on an Israir flight early on Sunday afternoon to be met with dates, cakes and mint tea at a welcoming ceremony organized in their honor.
“I am originally from Marrakesh. I’ve come back here around 30 times but this time, the trip has a special flavour — it’s as if it were the first time!” an emotional Pinhas Moyal told AFP from the tarmac, his mask and bag in the colors of the Moroccan flag.
Israir spokeswoman Tali Leibovitz told AFP that two to three flights per week were planned on the route.
Israeli national carrier El Al announced it too had launched a service to Marrakesh on Sunday, and planned five flights per week there and to Casablanca.
At a ceremony sending off the El Al flight attended by Moroccan envoy Abderrahim Beyyoudh, Israel’s Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said the service would boost “trade, tourism and economic cooperation between the countries,” according to an El Al statement.
The El Al flight was expected in Marrakesh later in the afternoon.
Morocco was one of four regional states to agree to normalize ties with Israel last year, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
The move came as the administration of former US president Donald Trump recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed and divided former Spanish colony.
Morocco is home to North Africa’s largest Jewish community, which numbers around 3,000. Some 700,000 Jews of Moroccan origin live in Israel.
“It’s great to return to the land of my ancestors,” said 58-year-old Sophie Levi, originally from Casablanca, who was on the Israir flight.
“We’re finally breathing again after two years of Covid.”
Some 50,000 to 70,000 tourists annually traveled to Morocco from Israel via third countries before the coronavirus pandemic, many of them of Moroccan origin.
In December last year, a direct flight carrying Israeli officials traveled from Tel Aviv to Rabat, where they signed several bilateral deals, including on air links.
Rabat had a liaison office in Tel Aviv but relations came to a halt during the 2000-2005 second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
The normalization deals between Arab states and Israel have been deemed a “betrayal” by the Palestinians, who believe the process should only follow a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said last week that he would visit Morocco shortly after direct flights commenced.
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Israel launches direct flights to Morocco
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Israel launches direct flights to Morocco
- About 100 passengers from Tel Aviv arrived on an Israir flight early on Sunday afternoon
- Israeli national carrier El Al announced it too had launched a service to Marrakesh on Sunday
Lebanon says 7 killed in Israeli strike on central Beirut
Beirut, Lebanon: Lebanon said an Israeli strike on central Beirut’s seafront killed at least seven people early on Thursday, another attack in the heart of the capital as Iran-backed Hezbollah launched more missiles at Israel.
The Israeli military said separately it had carried out strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight against Hezbollah, which had announced a major new operation against Israel.
Local media aired footage showing smoke rising along the seaside road area after the strike in central Beirut, which state-run National News Agency (NNA) said targeted a car.
“The Israeli enemy strike on Ramlet Al-Bayda in Beirut led to an initial toll of seven dead and 21 wounded,” the health ministry said in a statement.
It was the third attack in the heart of the capital since the Middle East war began. Israel has also repeatedly hit the southern suburbs of Beirut where Israeli military said on Thursday it had hit 10 Hezbollah targets.
The NNA reported on Thursday that Israeli strikes had also hit several towns in southern Lebanon, including Taybeh and Al-Sultaniyya as well as Qana, near the city of Tyre.
Hezbollah said early Thursday that it had fired off missiles at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel, which kept up its strikes in Lebanon even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, has since launched air raids across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas.
Its offensive has killed more than 630 people, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced, with around 126,000 of them staying in collective shelters.
Some displaced people have been sleeping out in the open or in tents on the streets of Beirut, including in the seaside area of Ramlet Al-Bayda.
- Hezbollah operation -
Late Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for Israel to halt its ground offensive in Lebanon and on Iran-backed group Hezbollah to “immediately” stop attacks, after speaking with the country’s president Joseph Aoun.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said earlier that they had carried out a joint missile operation with ally Hezbollah against targets in Israel.
In turn, the Israeli military said early Thursday that “over the past hours, the IDF has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting terror infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization across Lebanon.”
It also said it hit “dozens of launchers” as well as Hezbollah intelligence and command sites in south Beirut.
It followed a string of Hezbollah statements saying its fighters fired barrages of rockets, advanced missiles and drones at towns, military bases and other locations, mainly in the Israel’s north.
On Wednesday, Israel pounded south Beirut and the country’s south and east, with the health ministry reporting several strikes that each killed at least eight people.
Authorities said a strike on an apartment in the densely populated Aisha Bakkar area in central Beirut wounded four people.
On Sunday, Israel hit a seafront hotel not far from Ramlet Al-Bayda, saying it was targeting Iranian foreign operations officers. Iran later said the raid killed four of its diplomats.
The Israeli military said separately it had carried out strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight against Hezbollah, which had announced a major new operation against Israel.
Local media aired footage showing smoke rising along the seaside road area after the strike in central Beirut, which state-run National News Agency (NNA) said targeted a car.
“The Israeli enemy strike on Ramlet Al-Bayda in Beirut led to an initial toll of seven dead and 21 wounded,” the health ministry said in a statement.
It was the third attack in the heart of the capital since the Middle East war began. Israel has also repeatedly hit the southern suburbs of Beirut where Israeli military said on Thursday it had hit 10 Hezbollah targets.
The NNA reported on Thursday that Israeli strikes had also hit several towns in southern Lebanon, including Taybeh and Al-Sultaniyya as well as Qana, near the city of Tyre.
Hezbollah said early Thursday that it had fired off missiles at an Israeli military intelligence base in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel, which kept up its strikes in Lebanon even before the war despite a 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, has since launched air raids across Lebanon and sent ground troops into border areas.
Its offensive has killed more than 630 people, according to Lebanese authorities, while more than 800,000 people have registered as displaced, with around 126,000 of them staying in collective shelters.
Some displaced people have been sleeping out in the open or in tents on the streets of Beirut, including in the seaside area of Ramlet Al-Bayda.
- Hezbollah operation -
Late Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for Israel to halt its ground offensive in Lebanon and on Iran-backed group Hezbollah to “immediately” stop attacks, after speaking with the country’s president Joseph Aoun.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said earlier that they had carried out a joint missile operation with ally Hezbollah against targets in Israel.
In turn, the Israeli military said early Thursday that “over the past hours, the IDF has begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting terror infrastructure belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization across Lebanon.”
It also said it hit “dozens of launchers” as well as Hezbollah intelligence and command sites in south Beirut.
It followed a string of Hezbollah statements saying its fighters fired barrages of rockets, advanced missiles and drones at towns, military bases and other locations, mainly in the Israel’s north.
On Wednesday, Israel pounded south Beirut and the country’s south and east, with the health ministry reporting several strikes that each killed at least eight people.
Authorities said a strike on an apartment in the densely populated Aisha Bakkar area in central Beirut wounded four people.
On Sunday, Israel hit a seafront hotel not far from Ramlet Al-Bayda, saying it was targeting Iranian foreign operations officers. Iran later said the raid killed four of its diplomats.
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