The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has asked its captains to avoid using Iranian airspace in the wake of Iran's attack on Israel.

According to a spokesperson, the national airline is rescheduling its flight operations and all the staff concerned have been informed about the orders.

The Iranian airspace will not be used and the orders will be enforced till the situation remains tense, added the official. Israel was under missile attack from Iran, the Israeli military and Iranian state media said, the latest escalation after Israeli raids against Iran-backed militants in Lebanon.

"A short while ago, missiles were launched from Iran towards the State of Israel," the military said in a statement. Sirens sounded across Israel, with reports of explosions over Jerusalem.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said it had launched "a missile attack on Tel Aviv", Israel's commercial hub. Its Revolutionary Guards Corps said the attack was in response to Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week as well as the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in a Tehran bombing widely blamed on Israel.

Israeli airspace was closed with all flights diverted, a spokesman for the airport authority said. Iraq and Jordan, while lie between Iran and Israel, closed their airspace too.