Israel lifts UK travel ban

The UK had been on Israel’s red list for nearly four weeks

Tel Aviv has been a rising star on the international travel scene for some years (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Israel has removed the UK from its red list for travel, lifting a travel ban that has been in place for nearly a month.

“Starting tonight (Thursday to Friday, midnight 07.01.2022), all countries will be removed from the list of red countries, subject to the approval of the Government and the Knesset’s Constitution Committee,” Israel’s Ministry of Health announced yesterday on Twitter.

“Despite the change, it should be noted that in many countries around the world the morbidity situation is higher than in Israel, and therefore it is advisable to avoid reaching these places unnecessarily as much as possible,” the Ministry added.

The UK had been on Israel’s red list since 12 December, following the detection of the first few cases of the Omicron variant in the country.

Now the variant is widespread in Israel, authorities have deemed the measures unnecessary.

In clearing its eight-strong red list at midnight yesterday, Israel also removed travel bans on the US, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mexico, Switzerland and Turkey.

Visitors from these countries will now be able to enter Israel with a negative test result taken within the past 72 hours (PCR) or 24 hours (antigen); they must also pay to take a further PCR test on arrival at the airport, and isolate at their accommodation until a negative result comes through.

Once the arrival test’s results come through, fully vaccinated travellers will be able to leave isolation, while unvaccinated or partly vaccinated visitors must complete a full 14-day quarantine.

There is an option to test on the seventh day of isolation and leave early if you receive a negative result.

The news follows a total ban on foreign visitors implemented by Israel in November.

“Five weeks ago, we closed the State of Israel to entry by foreign nationals,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday. “This greatly delayed the entry of omicron to the country.”