U.S. Updates Travel Warning For Israel, West Bank, And Gaza
Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The U.S. State Department is updating its travel warning for "the general security environment in Israel, Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip." The government wishes to remind Americans that "Hezbollah continues to launch numerous rocket attacks into Israel, which have resulted in fatalities and injuries to civilians. This is a volatile and extremely dangerous situation." "In addition to this, the conduct of the Palestinian Authority government led by Hamas and actions such as the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Hamas have caused increased instability in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip." According to the warning, "Violent demonstrations and armed conflicts between supporters of the Hamas and Fatah factions have increased in the Gaza Strip and spread to the West Bank. Overall conditions of lawlessness prevail in the Gaza Strip, Israeli military operations continue, and areas of violent conflict shift rapidly and unpredictably." The Department urges Americans "to defer travel to Israel and Jerusalem at this time and to defer travel to affected parts of Israel (missile attacks have focused on the area north of an east-west line from the coastal city of Haifa to Tiberius on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, including those cities, and on Sderot and Ashkelon in the south). In addition, the Department of State urges U.S. citizens t |
