European airlines and countries are wrestling with the safety risk of evacuation operations from Israel, with Norwegian Air and Dutch KLM cancelling flights while the UK and Germany joined France, Italy and Poland in going ahead with flights.

Norwegian Air said it had canceled a planned evacuation flight from Tel Aviv to Oslo due to a lack of insurance cover. Dutch airline KLM said late on Wednesday it had retracted an offer to the Dutch government for a flight to Israel to take Dutch citizens out of the country, citing safety concerns.

However, KLM's sister airline Air France was pressing ahead with a flight from Paris on Thursday, a spokesperson said. The two airlines are owned by the same parent group Air France-KLM but are operationally separate. No explanation was available for the contrasting decisions.

KLM said "the most recent information on the situation in Israel indicates it is not sufficiently possible for a civilian airline to conduct a flight that's safe for crew and passengers." The Dutch foreign ministry said it would send a military plane to Israel on Thursday instead.

Norwegian Air had been due to fly Norwegian and other Nordic citizens stranded in Israel out of the country on Thursday evening on a flight already postponed from Wednesday. "The reason is that the insurance company that Norwegian and a number of other airlines use no longer cover flights to Tel Aviv," Norwegian said in a statement.

Airlines have faced warnings over insurance cover in the wake of the weekend attacks on Israel by Hamas militants. Norwegian said it was working with Norway's foreign ministry to find other solutions. On Tuesday it canceled regular flights from the Swedish and Danish capitals to Tel Aviv until December 19.

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While Norwegian and Dutch airlines have canceled evacuations, the UK and Germany are the latest European countries to announce flights to get their citizens out of Israel. A number of countries, including France, Italy and Poland have already completed flights to get people home.

The UK's Foreign Office says its first flight out of Israel will depart Tel Aviv on Thursday, with more planned in the coming days "subject to security." Those who are eligible to leave Israel will be contacted directly and UK citizens have been told not to go to airports unless they are contacted.

The Foreign Office has also added that families of British diplomats will be leaving Israel as a precaution and has urged travellers to avoid heading to Israel or territories occupied by Palestinian agencies.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: "The FCDO continues to advise against all travel to parts of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and to advise against all but essential travel to all other parts."

News of the evacuation flights comes just days after the UK government said it wouldn't be planning such flights as commercial routes were still available. But it has now performed a U-turn after British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, EasyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Air France, Lufthansa and Emirates suspended flights.

While the Foreign Office will arrange the flights, they are still classed as commercial services and so each passenger will be charged $367. British nationals, including dual nationals, and dependants if travelling with a British national normally resident in the UK, will be invited to take up seats.

As the UK steps up its evacuation efforts, Germany is doing the same. German airline Condor announced two special flights to evacuate German citizens from Israel on Sunday, adding that it was in close coordination with the German foreign ministry.

The two Airbus planes, with a capacity of just under 500 passengers in total, departed from the Jordanian city of Aqaba near the Israeli border, a spokesperson for the airline said on Thursday.

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