Over 200 Czech Citizens Evacuated from Israel on Government Aircraft
The successful evacuation of Czech citizens from Israel was completed on Friday, utilizing six government aircraft. In total, 228 citizens of the Czech Republic have returned home. Additionally, the Czech government honored Israel's request to repatriate Israelis who wished to return to their country to defend it, as reported by Radio Prague International.
"As of 11 a.m. this morning (Friday, October 13), the Czech Republic has completed the repatriation of its citizens from Israel. All Czech citizens who expressed a desire to return to the Czech Republic on government flights and at government expense departed yesterday. The final evacuation flight landed in Prague at approximately 10:40 this morning," said Daniel Drake, the head of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs press office.
He noted that this operation was one of the most logistically complex events in the history of the Czech Republic.
"I remember the evacuation of people from Afghanistan a few years ago. This time it was a more complex event in terms of safety risks, the number of flights, and people. Back then, we evacuated 195 Czechs on three planes, and today we're talking about nearly 230 individuals on six planes. Coordinating this process with various partners was challenging, as you need permission to fly over all the countries you intend to pass through," Daniel Drake added.
The spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that the return of Israelis was coordinated with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Citizens of Israel utilized two government flights from Prague to Tel Aviv that would otherwise have flown empty. In total, 73 Israelis took the opportunity to return to their homeland from the Czech Republic.
It's worth noting that over a thousand Ukrainian citizens currently in Israel have sought assistance to leave the country. Ukraine is preparing its first evacuation flight to Romania on Saturday, October 14, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Several European countries have decided to evacuate their citizens from Israel using military aircraft. Among these countries are Lithuania, which had around 7,000 citizens in Israel at the time of the Hamas attack, and Poland. Meanwhile, the Moldovan government relies on an agreement with the Romanian government and the Romanian national carrier, TAROM: Moldovan citizens have priority boarding rights on flights from Israel operated by this airline.