UPDATED 4.35PM 11/10/23 (AEDT)

Australia has organised two evacuation flights for terrified Australians stranded in the warzone in Israel, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed.

Albanese announced late on Wednesday afternoon that two Qantas flights would leave Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport for London on Friday.

Stranded Australians who want to be on board must first register with a consular hotline by phoning +61 262 613 305 from within Israel, or 1300 555 135 in Australia.

“We are assessing all options to get Australians home as soon as possible who wish to travel back here,” Albanese said.

It came after Australians stuck in Israel complained they had been left to find their own way home while other nations got their citizens to safety.

Earlier on Wednesday, Transport Minister Catherine King spoke to the chief executives of Qantas and Virgin to ask them to help with urgent repatriation flights.

Neither airline flies direct to Israel, and flights out of the war-struck nation are limited. More are being cancelled as rockets are fired.

Also on Wednesday, the federal government confirmed that Sydney grandmother Galit Carbone was the first Australian known to have died in the conflict after the Islamic terror group Hamas attacked Israel, killing hundreds of civilians and taking others hostage.

The 66-year-old was executed by militants at her home in the Be’eri kibbutz, kilometres from the Gaza Strip.

Australians in Israel were initially told book commercial tickets out, where possible. However, some said they had been forced to pay huge fares to escape the conflict.

About 10,000 Australians live in Israel and others are holidaying there as the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalates.

On Wednesday, Asher Lilley, who is in Israel with her sister, said she feared their tickets back to Australia would be cancelled.

“Every single day more and more flights are getting cancelled and all we can do is just hope that we are actually going to be able to get out,” she told Nine’s Today program from Tel Aviv.

She said communication from the Australian embassy “has been shocking”.

“What’s the point of having an embassy if they’re not doing their job?” Lilley said.

“We need to do better – it’s so scary being stuck in a war zone.

“We just want to get out – we just want to get home.”

Tweet from @zdaniel

Independent Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel said she had written to Foreign Minister Penny Wong urging the government to organise evacuation flights from Israel and the Palestinian territories.

“I’m particularly concerned for the safety of teenagers who are in Israel on gap year programs. Govt says it is ‘assessing all options’,” she posted to X (Twitter).

Qantas said it was in touch with the Albanese government and was offering tickets with its partner airlines through its website.

“Customers who are trying to leave Tel Aviv and are having difficulties with flights can contact us to discuss alternatives,” a Qantas statement said.

“We understand these are distressing and challenging circumstances.

“We have been in contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and offered support for Australians in Israel.”

Canada’s foreign minister has announced the nation’s armed forces will begin evacuating citizens from Tel Aviv in coming days.

Israel escalates offensive

The fighting in the Middle East has intensified, with rockets being fired from both sides.

Israeli air strikes razed entire districts and filled morgues with dead Palestinians on Tuesday, while across the barrier wall enclosing the coastal enclave, Israeli soldiers collected the last of Israel’s dead.

On Saturday, Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip rampaged through parts of southern Israel, killing hundreds of people in the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel’s history.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking to soldiers near the Gaza fence, said: “Hamas wanted a change and it will get one. What was in Gaza will no longer be.”

“We started the offensive from the air, later on we will also come from the ground. We’ve been controlling the area since day two and we are on the offensive. It will only intensify.”

Israel withdrew troops from Gaza in 2005 after 38 years of occupation, and has kept it under blockade since Hamas seized power there in 2007. The siege it announced on Monday would keep out food and fuel.

On Israel’s northern border, a salvo of rockets was fired from southern Lebanon towards Israel, prompting Israeli shelling in return, three security sources said.

More shells launched from Syrian territory landed in open areas in Israel, prompting Israel to return fire, the military said, further raising fears that the violence could lead to a wider war.

-with AAP