The Sinai Peninsula beaches, including the popular Israeli tourist destination Sharm el-Sheikh, have been lowered from a Level 1 travel alert zone — "very high concrete threat" — to a Level 3, Israel's National Security Council announced Wednesday night.
The decision was reached following discussions between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Egyptian Intelligence head Abbas Kamel during a meeting between the two, the statement said.
Sinai has remained a popular tourist destination for Israelis ever since it was returned to Egypt during the peace accords in 1979, with a steady rise in visitors since 2016, according to Israeli media.
For the past decade, authorities have recommended that Israelis avoid traveling to Sinai for fear of terror attacks by Islamic extremists, primarily ISIS and groups affiliated with al-Qaeda. Nevertheless, the coronavirus pandemic, which minimized air travel, prompted Israelis to flock to Sinai between lockdowns.
The National Security Council stresses that the northern regions of Sinai are still considered Level 1 alert, and that any vacationers planning to travel out of Israel are still subject to coronavirus travel restrictions.