Ukraine Continues Evacuation of Its Citizens from the Gaza Strip
Three evacuation flights with Ukrainians on board have already departed from Israel. According to the latest data, 436 Ukrainian citizens have been evacuated so far. Nearly 300 Ukrainian citizens are still in the Gaza Strip and have expressed a desire to be evacuated. The Ukrainian Embassy in the State of Israel and the Embassy in Egypt, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, are working on this, but the process is very complex. This was revealed by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Egypt, Mykola Nahorny, in an interview with the Ukrainian edition of Radio Free Europe.
According to Mykola Nahorny, he hopes that the issue will be resolved by October 21.
"We are in contact with our citizens, and there is communication between our embassies and the relevant authorities responsible for this evacuation. We are practically ready. We have worked out all the necessary issues related to the Egyptian side, logistics, bringing our people from the Gaza Strip to one of the airports, and then sending them to a safe third country," Mykola Nahorny noted.
He added that the only issue now is the opening of the border crossing point and the organization of the evacuation.
"It is clear that the only border crossing point can be 'Rafah.' It is about 600 kilometers from Cairo. Afterward, people can be transported by buses to either Cairo Airport or one of the airports in the Sinai Peninsula. Probably, this could be Sharm El Sheikh," the ambassador stated.
He also added that the evacuation issue needs to be coordinated with all parties, including agreement from the Egyptian side, the Israeli side, and certain guarantees from Hamas.
From Egypt's side, there is a requirement that evacuated people should not stay in the country for more than four days. This applies not only to Ukrainians but to all evacuees from Gaza.
"The fact that Ukrainians will not stay in Egypt is 100% certain. Since along with the submission of lists, the embassy has undertaken an obligation that the Ukrainian side guarantees the evacuation of its citizens from Egyptian territory within 4 days. This is, in fact, a requirement for all foreign embassies, including the US Embassy and the embassies of EU countries," the diplomat said.
As a reminder, Ukraine began the evacuation of its citizens from Israel on October 14th when the first evacuation flight to Romania took off and successfully reached its destination on October 15th. Since then, two more evacuation flights have been organized from Israel. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has also confirmed the deaths of 13 Ukrainian citizens.