Australia citizens seeking to return from Israel are expected to be offered a further flight next week.

Two Qantas flights will begin evacuating Australians on Friday.

But the rescue flight plans come as violence ratchets up further in the Middle East country – and a British Airways flight was forced to turn back minutes from landing in Tel Aviv on Thursday (AEDT).

CNN reports that flight BA165 from Heathrow was on approach to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport when it was recalled to its original destination amid safety concerns.

British Airways confirmed to CNN that the flight was turned around only minutes before it was due to land in the northern Israeli city, which has come under rocket fire as intense fighting rages between Israel forces and Hamas.

The airline said it had halted services to and from Tel Aviv as of late Thursday.

“Safety is always our highest priority and following the latest assessment of the situation, we’re suspending our flights to and from Tel Aviv,” it said.

In Australia, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said her department was working through the details of further action.

“We are seeking to arrange a further flight likely to be early next week,” she said in Melbourne on Thursday.

More than 1200 Israelis have been killed and more than 2700 wounded after an hours-long rampage by militants who breached the fence enclosing Gaza on Saturday.

Scores of citizens were taken hostage.

More than 1000 Palestinians are believed to have died and more than 5000 were wounded in retaliatory air strikes on Gaza.

Among those killed in Israel was Australian grandmother Galit Carbone, 66, who died at the hands of the Hamas militants who attacked her village, just kilometres from the Gaza border.

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With roughly 10,000 Australian residents and even more tourists stranded in Israel, Australian authorities are trying to ascertain their status and bring home those who want to leave.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said there would likely be a large demand for the flights.

“It’s possible there will be an initial rush of people out of Israel but then later others will want to leave,” she told ABC TV on Thursday.

Other major airlines have also suspended or cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv.

Asked if defence force planes were a better option than commercial aircraft, O’Neil said Wong was working through the details. Wong said the government looked at all options.

“It’s simply the case of what availability could be arranged faster,” she said.

“Obviously, there are occasions where we looked at the RAAF.”

The free-of-charge effort will begin on Friday, when two flights will depart Ben Gurion Airport for London.

Options are being worked on for Australians who need onward support from London.

The planes are likely to be Boeing 787s, which carry about 250 people.

The US is trying to create a safe passage corridor for citizens out of data, with White House national security spokesman John Kirby saying Israel and Egypt were the two biggest players in the region.

Wong again condemned the indiscriminate killing of civilians and urged terrorist organisation Hamas to release hostages, saying the practice had “no place in today’s world”.

She said Australia supported the establishment of a safe corridor into Egypt.

“We’ll support the US efforts in that regard,” she said.

In a speech at a Melbourne synagogue, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the lives lost in the violence. Albanese also assured the Jewish community that anti-Semitism and hateful prejudice had no place in Australia.

“We cannot lighten the weight that is upon you, but we hold you in our hearts,” he said on Wednesday.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said it was “unbelievable” if it was true the federal government’s national security committee had not yet met to discuss the Middle East.

“These are simple questions that need pretty significant contemplation about the best way to keep Australians safe,” he said in Brisbane.

Albanese, O’Neil and Defence Minister Richard Marles have refused to comment on the timing of national security cabinet meetings. But O’Neil said she and Albanese were briefed daily by security officials.

Consular Emergency Centre (from overseas) +61 2 6261 3305

Consular Emergency Centre (within Australia) 1300 555 135

-with AAP