Improving diplomatic ties between Israel and Morocco last year resulted in Israeli airlines’ starting direct flights between Tel Aviv and Marrakesh as two carriers on Sunday made the first such commercial flights. “Israir Airlines' direct flight departed on Sunday from the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv to the Moroccan city of Marrakech with about 100 Israeli tourists”, the company said in a statement.

El Al said in a separate statement that it plans to operate five flights per week to Morocco. "It is hoped that many Israelis can know and experience Morocco better," El Al CEO Avigal Sorek said in the statement.

The new flights would "help advance fruitful tourism, trade and economic cooperation and diplomatic agreements between the two countries", Israel's Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said in a statement.

Israel and Morocco agreed on last December to upgrade diplomatic ties and re-launch direct flights – part of a deal brokered by the United States that also included Washington's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Morocco was home to one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities in North Africa and the Middle East for centuries until Israel's founding in 1948. An estimated quarter of a million left Morocco for Israel from 1948-1964.

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