Israel’s civilian aircraft fleets have been moved out of the country as a precautionary measure amid rising fears of a potential Iranian missile attack, Israeli media reported on Saturday.

According to Maariv newspaper, Israeli security authorities instructed all domestic airlines to transfer their entire fleets abroad in what has been described as a secret operation aimed at minimizing risk in the event of an Iranian strike.

The move comes as tensions between Israel and Iran continue to escalate following a series of military confrontations, including Israeli strikes on Iranian military infrastructure and retaliatory missile and drone attacks launched by Iran.

According to the report, the directive came from Israel’s security agencies and was aimed at safeguarding the country's civil aviation assets. As a result, major Israeli carriers—El Al, Arkia, Israir, and Air Haifa—have relocated their planes to several international destinations, including Cyprus, Greece, and the United States.

Israir said it was evacuating and relocating its aircraft from the airport, adding this was part of a contingency plan developed over the past few days.

El Al said it was moving aircraft out of Israel “to our destinations” and Arkia declined to say where they were moving.

Flight tracking data showed a number of planes leaving Tel Aviv on Friday morning local time.

A number of Israir flights went to Cyprus and several El Al aircraft were flown to airports in Europe, Flightradar24 data showed.