The Foreign Office has sent British national stranded in Israel an email about an imaginary “charter flight” to repatriate them to the UK.
A number of Brits have been effectively stranded in Israel by the closure of its airspace after the outbreak of the war with Iran.
Earlier today, some received an email with the subject line “Crisis – notification of charter flight", giving some hope that they would be returned home.
The body of the message, seen by the JC, thanked the recipients for registering their presence in the country with the British embassy and repeated the generic official travel advice.
It read: “As you will have seen we made an update to the Travel Advice this morning. Airspace remains closed, but land borders listed in the Travel Advice remain open. Commercial flights continue to operate from airports in the region to various destinations, including the UK.
"We advise everyone who is able to download the Homefront Command app to receive important security announcements from the Israeli authorities.”
However, the Foreign Office has since confirmed that there was no “charter flight” arranged, claiming the subject line was an “administrative error”.
A spokesperson for the department said: “This was an administrative error.
"We continue to urge all British nationals in the region to register their presence and to follow our up to date travel advice."
Despite families of British embassy staff being evacuated from Tel Aviv, the official advice from the Foreign Office is not currently suggesting that other British nationals in the country should leave.
It also emphasises that land borders with Egypt and Jordan remain open and that commercial flights back to the UK are operating from those nations.
Asked earlier what action the government was taking to assist British national stuck in Israel, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “This is a fast-moving situation. We are keeping all our advice under constant review.
”As you would expect the safety and security of British nationals is our top priority.
"Routes via land out of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories currently remain open and British nationals are able to use them."
However, when pressed on whether the government was actually taking any action to directly extract its citizens from Israel, they declined to answer, saying: “Foreign Office teams are already at the Jordanian border to provide advice about onward travel options.
"Our key message to British nationals remains to follow the advice of local authorities on staying close to shelter.
"Commercial transport services are continuing to run, subject to safety alerts, and my latest understanding is that they are not full.”
The prime minister is expected to chair a Cobra meeting on the situation in the Middle East this afternoon.
