There have been tearful, joyful scenes and plenty of hugs at Sydney Airport after the first of two repatriation flights that helped Australians and their families flee Israel touched down.
One flight landed on Tuesday night and another Qantas A380 carrying 300 people is due to land in Sydney on Wednesday night, with more Australians fleeing the confict onboard.
Michael Landis, his wife Leemore and their 15-month-old baby Libby were onboard the flight after they had been working just outside Tel Aviv.
"It's really mixed emotions, I'm really grateful for my family saying, 'Come be safe', (but) I'm feeling really guilty about leaving my friends, family and colleagues," Landis said.
"Every boom, you feel it, you see the puffs of cloud in the air as the Iron Dome intercepts those rockets," he said.
"Life in Israel is living every day and appreciating every day because you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.
"Australia is a very safe place, I am so glad that I got to grow up in a place where I don't have to worry about terrorism."
A mother told 9News she felt "happy but guilty" that she wasn't still in Israel.
"Try to explain to a three-year-old kid that we have to run to a bomb shelter," she said.
"We had to say that it's hide and seek and we are having a party in the room."
"It's good to be home," one passenger said before thanking the Australian people and government for ferrying them to safety.
A father warned he was ready to cry about his daughter's return.
"It's been really worrying and now I feel great. It's really good to have her here safe," he said.
One man detailed his lucky escape from rocket fire during his holiday in Israel, telling cameras: "We were laying in a hotel room and a missile landed about 150 metres away from us."
Some of the joy was tainted by the tragic reality that some family members remained in Israel, including one woman who said it was bittersweet to be back in Australia.
"I'm torn - my entire family is over there, so for me it's been extremely hard," she said.
The Qatar Airways plane carrying 222 passengers, including around 74 Australians and their children, left Dubai yesterday.
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The passengers were in Dubai after being transported out of danger in Tel Aviv by an Australian Air Force flight on Saturday.
They then boarded the mercy flight home.
After landing in Sydney, some passengers then continued on their journey to Brisbane or Melbourne.
Emotions were running high at Brisbane Airport as Virgin Airlines 993 flight landed on Tuesday night with dozens on board from the mercy flight.
Kara Hirsch was among the returning passengers, back in Australia after eight years of living in Israel.
"It was so frightening and so awful for us, for everyone. And just the horrific situation - everyone has seen the images now but we were just crying all the time," Kara said.
Daughter Ella was just happy to see her grandmother again after four years.
The family made the difficult decision to leave behind a husband and father.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles confirmed earlier on Tuesday that there would likely be no more flights to repatriate Australians after the two that had already left.
"We do believe these flights meet the immediate demand," he said.
The government's attention now turns to Gaza where more than 45 Australians have reached out to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for assistance.
"Clearly people who are in Gaza right now are in a very, very difficult situation," Marles said.
"We are encouraging them to move south within Gaza, to heed the call of Israel in that respect."
The government is focusing on working with international countries to try and establish a humanitarian corridor out of Gaza.
"We continue to do a lot of engagement with the United States, with Israel [and] with Egypt to try and assure passage for Australians out of Gaza," Foreign Minister Penny Wong said yesterday.
"Obviously the security situation on the ground there is extremely difficult and so far we have not been able to do that.
"We will continue to do everything we can to arrange that passage."
Meanwhile, Emirates confirmed it is adding a special humanitarian flight to its schedule from Dubai to Sydney.
The flight will leave Dubai on Thursday at 9.40am local time.
More than 250 Australians and their families were also flown out of Tel Aviv across three flights on Sunday evening Australian time.
Two of the flights were on RAAF aircraft and one was a Qantas chartered flight.
Australia has been arranging onward passage from Dubai, including the Emirates flight, while Qantas put on flights from London.
Australians who wish to travel on the Emirates flight should contact centre or sales offices, or their nearest Australian consulate or embassy, a spokesperson for Emirates said in a statement.
"Emirates stands ready to help impacted Australians return home, through our regularly scheduled services between Dubai and Australia, as well as the deployment of additional humanitarian flights as needed," the spokesperson said.
"We have made aircraft and crew available and put them on standby to activate over the past days, pending confirmation of passenger numbers and other details from the Australian government."
