Czechia, Poland, Lithuania Gear Up to Evacuate Nationals from Israel

(MENAFN) Czechia, Poland, and Lithuania revealed on Monday that they are moving quickly to evacuate their citizens from Israel as tensions escalate in the region due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

According to media, which cited the Czech Foreign Ministry, a government-operated repatriation flight is being deployed to extract Czech nationals who have registered with the embassy in Tel Aviv.

Veronika Kuchynova Smigolova, the Czech ambassador to Israel, stated that a convoy of Czech evacuees departed Monday morning, heading toward the frontier of an undisclosed neighboring country. She refrained from naming the destination, citing safety reasons.

The aircraft designated for the evacuation holds approximately 80 passengers and is expected to operate at near full capacity. Smigolova added that further flights could be arranged depending on the evolving security situation.

Poland has also launched evacuation plans. The Polish Defense Ministry announced that about 200 Polish citizens currently in Israel will be flown home free of charge. As reported by a news agency, the operation will initially involve transporting evacuees overland to Amman, Jordan, from where flights to Poland will be arranged. Authorities also indicated that maritime evacuation remains a possibility if necessary.

In a similar move, Lithuania is organizing a land evacuation of its nationals, due to the closure of Israeli airspace. Vilmantas Vitkauskas, who heads Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, explained that Lithuanian citizens will be transported from Tel Aviv to border crossings with either Egypt or Jordan. From there, they will likely board a chartered flight departing from King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba, Jordan.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria is preparing for a potential extraction as well. Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov confirmed on Monday that a detailed plan to evacuate Bulgarian nationals is in place. However, according to media, the government is waiting for the most strategically sound time to implement it.

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