UPDATE - 150,000 Israelis stranded abroad as airlines suspend flights to Tel Aviv

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By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - Around 150,000 Israelis have been stranded abroad due to the suspension of international flights to Tel Aviv amid rising tensions between Lebanon’s Hezbollah group and Israel, Israel's Channel 12 reported Sunday.

Earlier, the official public broadcaster KAN said around 4,000 passengers are stuck outside the country and have contacted the Foreign Ministry in Tel Aviv to facilitate their return to Israel.

Due to the escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, 15 international airlines have canceled their flights to and from Tel Aviv since last Monday, with some suspending flights for at least a few days and others indefinitely.

Flights between Tel Aviv and Eilat in southern Israel were also canceled Saturday night and throughout Sunday due to the tense security situation, the Israeli daily Maariv said.

Tensions have escalated between Hezbollah and Israel since Tel Aviv assassinated the group’s senior military commander, Fuad Shukr, in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on July 30.

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas’s political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, was also assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran the following day in an attack blamed on Israel, although Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied its responsibility.

Hamas and Iran have vowed to retaliate for Haniyeh's assassination, while Hezbollah has pledged to respond to Shukr's killing.

Fears have grown over a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah amid a months-long exchange of cross-border fire.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of an Israeli onslaught on Gaza which has killed nearly 39,600 people since last October following an attack by Hamas.

​​​​​​​*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala