German and Israeli authorities have coordinated the departure of 179 German citizens from Israel, with two Airbus A400M flights taking off from Tel Aviv on Monday.
The German Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Defence announced the development on Monday evening, stating that the flights were the result of “diplomatic abductions” and not a “military evacuation operation”. The flights were targeted at vulnerable individuals who had expressed a desire to leave, including many families.
This is not the first time that Germany has facilitated the return of its citizens from Israel. In recent days, the Foreign Ministry has organized three special flights, carrying over 460 people, to return to Amman, Jordan. In addition, the German military, in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry, flew out 64 people on Friday.
The borders between Israel, Jordan and Egypt remain open and commercial flights from Jordan and Egypt are available on short notice. Furthermore, the Israeli authorities have, dependent on the situation, opened the Israeli airspace for selected commercial flights.