Two hundred Ukrainians will be able to fly from Israel to Romania on Saturday evening, Ukraine's Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk has said on the air of the national news telethon, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
"The evacuation of our citizens is carried out as follows: Ben Gurion Airport is operating normally, about 1,000 citizens have contacted the embassy's website and filled out a questionnaire confirming that they are ready to pay the ticket price... The first evacuation flight, that is, the first 200 people whose tickets have already been issued and are absolutely affordable, will depart for Romania, Bucharest, on Saturday evening," Korniychuk said.
He added that the next evacuation flight from Israel will also depart for Romania, scheduled for Sunday evening.
According to the ambassador, the main problem with evacuation from Israel is that many foreign companies have cancelled flights, and the cost of tickets has risen to $1,000 to Europe. Korniychuk also stressed that consuls in Israel work around the clock, and primarily help those who call Ukrainian phones, as these are people who have not lived in Israel permanently.
Further evacuation flights will depend on demand.
At the same time, the evacuation of Ukrainians from the Gaza Strip has not started due to the closure of the only crossing point.
"Unfortunately, the evacuation has not started because the only crossing point, Rafah, remains closed, and we, as well as other embassies, cannot influence this. This means that none of the European embassies, as well as the US one, has evacuated any of their citizens," the ambassador explained.
According to him, everything is ready for the evacuation, and the number of people who have agreed to evacuate from Gaza is increasing every hour. As of Thursday morning, 250 people wanted to leave the area.
Korniychuk stressed that as soon as any crossing point from the Gaza Strip is opened, the evacuation will begin.
As reported earlier, seven Ukrainians have been killed in Israel, and nine others are missing following the brutal Hamas attacks.