A total of 325 people, including 46 children, have been evacuated from Israel aboard three aircraft of the Hungarian Air Force, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Monday, 9 October.
The situation in Israel remains ‘extremely worrying’, with some areas practically in a state of war, Minister Szijjártó said, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry. The Hungarian government’s top priority in such a case of emergency is to ensure the safety of Hungarians, he added.
He went on to state that the government has established contact with hundreds of people, 215 of whom were evacuated on two aircraft of the Hungarian Air Force last night. One of the planes then returned to Tel Aviv to rescue 110 more people.
All Hungarian citizens who have asked for assistance in returning home have landed in Hungary or are en route home,
with the third flight having recently left Israel’s airspace, Szijjártó said.
Altogether, 310 of those evacuated are Hungarians and 15 of them are foreign nationals, among them Israeli, Swedish, German, British, Austrian, and Portuguese citizens, he informed. 46 of those rescued are children. Staff at the Hungarian Embassy in Tel Aviv remain on 24-hour call and the consular emergency centre in Budapest is also working with increased staff, the Minister added.
Flights between Budapest and Tel Aviv continue to operate as scheduled, Szijjártó said, but urged Hungarians to cancel their trips to Israel unless it is absolutely essential. He also called on those travelling to the Middle Eastern country to register for consular protection.
‘We continue to stand by Israel; we condemn the terrorist attack against the country and call on international political players to demonstrate responsibility in this crucial moment so that an escalation of this wartime situation can be avoided,’ Minister Szijjártó stressed.
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Source: Hungarian Conservative/MTI
