Airplane (illustrative)
Airplane (illustrative)Thinkstock

The Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) reportedly announced that starting Thursday night, all flights from Amsterdam to Ben Gurion International Airport will include a stopover in Cyprus. According to reports, the move comes due to "security concerns."

According to Yediot Aharonot, the change will have flights from the Netherlands stop-over in Cyprus for 40 minutes and then continue on to Israel.

The report cites KLM as saying that "due to logistical constraints the flights leaving from the afternoon from Amsterdam to Israel will have short stop-overs in Larnaca, and from there continue to Israel."

However, Yediot Aharonot reveals that a source in the company said the change is meant to allow KLM to conduct an appraisal of the situation before arriving in Israel in light of the "security situation."

The concerns come despite the fact that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire deal with the terrorist organization Hamas on Tuesday, a move that has garnered fierce criticism from within Israel.

The Netherlands is not the only country to have limited air service to Israel recently; Korean Air was the first international carrier to halt service to Israel in mid-July at the start of Operation Protective Edge. That service is to resume on September 13.