For Israelis, Jittery Wait for Retaliatory Strikes Stretches Into a New Week

Israel’s prime minister said it was already ‘in a multi-front war against Iran’s evil axis.’

Israel went into a new workweek in a state of deep uncertainty on Sunday, with the potential for attacks by Iran and the militant groups it supports already causing disruptions for many.

A number of international airlines have suspended flights to and from Israel pending expected retaliation against the country by Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. That has left tens of thousands of Israelis unable to come home, according to an Israeli official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Delta, United, the Lufthansa group and Aegean Airlines were among those that suspended services to Israel after the assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in a strike in Beirut on Tuesday, and the killing early Wednesday of the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran. The fear is that the responses to the killings could be the start of a wider regional war.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is asking citizens traveling abroad to fill out an online survey to help the government map where they are and try to organize solutions, including alternative commercial flights. Most are believed to be stuck in Europe and the United States.

Israel’s national carrier, El Al, and its subsidiaries are trying to add more flights to ferry Israelis home, but their ability to do so is limited: At the height of the summer, with school out, the Israeli airlines were already operating at full capacity.

Many Israelis were abroad on what they assumed would be short vacations and will be eager to get back to their families, jobs and lives in Israel, despite the looming danger. Officials were recommending that they make their way to nearby hubs such as Athens and Cyprus, a relatively short flight away.

Over the weekend, amid fears of a broadening conflagration, Britain, Canada, France and the United States were among the countries urging their citizens to leave Lebanon immediately. Noting that several airlines had suspended or canceled flights to and from Beirut, and that many flights were sold out, the American Embassy in Beirut said on Saturday: “We encourage those who wish to depart Lebanon to book any ticket available to them.”

France also urged its citizens in Iran to leave as soon as possible.

For Israel, the travel disruptions added to the sense that it was no longer in control of its own fate and had no clear plan for quieting its many conflicts.

Analysts said the Israeli government was waiting, instead, to see how much damage might be inflicted by any Iranian and Hezbollah retaliatory action. Only then, they said, would Israel decide on the strength of any subsequent response, and whether to work to contain the situation or risk further escalation that could spiral into an all-out regional war.

Almost 10 months since the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel that prompted the war in Gaza, “the predicament in which Israel has found itself is far from being resolved,” Amos Harel, the military affairs analyst for the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, wrote on Sunday.

“Strategies that Iran and its proxies had been working on for years went into high gear, presenting Israel with unprecedented challenges,” he wrote, adding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “hasn’t presented, much less formulated, a clear strategy to his subordinates.”

After a weekend of continued tit-for-tat clashes over the border with Lebanon, fighting with the Iran-backed group Hamas in Gaza and deadly Israeli airstrikes against Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank, Mr. Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel was already “in a multi-front war against Iran’s evil axis.”

“We are striking every one of its arms with great force. We are prepared for any scenario — both offensively and defensively,” Mr. Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks at the beginning of his weekly cabinet meeting. “I reiterate and tell our enemies: We will respond and we will exact a heavy price for any act of aggression against us, from whatever quarter,” he said.

But many Israelis noted that Iran and Hezbollah were already benefiting by taking their time and keeping the country on tenterhooks in the four days since the assassinations.

Israel claimed responsibility for killing Mr. Shukr but it has neither acknowledged nor denied responsibility for killing Mr. Haniyeh. Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for his death.

— Isabel Kershner reporting from Jerusalem