A further 500 airline seats for Australians, permanent residents and their immediate families have been secured on two flights out of Lebanon to Cyprus.

It’s on top of 80 seats for Australians and their families on a flight leaving Lebanon on Thursday, with the latest two flights scheduled for Saturday.

Australia would seek to secure as many seats as possible, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said as she urged citizens to secure any path out of Lebanon they can and not wait for government assistance, with only 35 of the 80 seats taken up.

“Please do not wait for your preferred route, please take whatever option is available to you,” she said in Geelong on Thursday, in comments carried by the Nine Network.

“If you are able to secure a seat on a flight, please take that seat.

“Now is not the time for you to wait and see, now is the time to leave.”

No evacuation effort will be able to accommodate all of the vast number of Australians in Lebanon. There are an estimated 15,000 in the country.

About 1700 Australians and their immediate family in Lebanon are registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs.

An Australian Defence Force aircraft is in Cyprus to aid with contingency arrangements, with commercial airlines stopping flights from Beirut and some avoiding Lebanese airspace altogether.

Australians in Lebanon should be prepared to leave quickly or shelter in place.

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Some Australians in Lebanon are refusing to leave, saying they’re not ready to uproot their lives.

Zakie Khoury Daou has lived in Lebanon for seven years after meeting her husband. She said she wouldn’t leave, despite the escalation of hostilities.

There had been similar situations in the past where she had persevered, Daou said, but acknowledged there was a lot of uncertainty about what could happen.

Wong acknowledged it was a hard time for Australians who had built lives in Lebanon and felt torn about evacuating.

“But I again would say to people, this is really the time to leave, we are very worried about the situation escalating,” she said.

The situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate with Iran firing rockets against Israel and Israel launching a ground invasion in southern Lebanon in recent days.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is not aware of any Australians killed in Lebanon.

Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran’s barrage while it continues to bombard southern Lebanon and parts of its capital Beirut in attacks it says are targeting listed terror group Hezbollah.

Israel claimed Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets from Lebanon and eight Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah.

Ground and air attacks in Gaza killed at least 51 people, according to the local health ministry.

Senior Australian ministers have declared Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks but called for a de-escalation to the conflict and for a ceasefire.

Condemning Iran’s attack, Wong also called for an end to the “cycle of violence” and urged all parties to show restraint.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said self defence had to come in “a proportionate way”.

Israel launched retaliatory strikes into Gaza in response to Hamas attacks on October 7 last year that killed around 1200 people, with about 250 people taken hostage, according to the military’s tallies.

About 42,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the local health ministry.

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-AAP