Amid the escalating Israel-Palestine conflict, several countries have initiated the evacuation of their citizens from Israel and the Palestinian territories, including Argentina, Brazil and Canada. 

Thousands of foreigners find themselves stuck in Israel and across the Palestinian territories, where a full-blown war has erupted since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Saturday, October 7.

With the violence already claiming thousands of lives on both sides, numerous countries have launched operations to repatriate their citizens, while others plan to do so in the coming days.

According to official sources, here is an overview of ongoing and planned evacuations.

Argentina

Argentina, the Latin American country with the largest Jewish population, started evacuating more than 1,200 of its citizens from Israel on Tuesday.

Three air force flights a day will transport the 1,246 Argentines who have asked to be evacuated to the Italian capital Rome, Defense Minister Jorge Taiana said.

From there, the state-owned airline Aerolineas Argentinas will fly them to Buenos Aires.

Brazil

Brazil’s government plans to mobilize at least six planes in a bid to rapidly repatriate any of its citizens who wish to leave Israel and the Palestinian territories.

It said that about 14,000 Brazilians live in Israel, and 6,000 live in the Palestinian territories.

Some had already left on commercial flights, the government said.

Nigeria

Nigeria has airlifted more than 300 of its citizens back home after they fled to Jordan from Israel, where they were on a Christian pilgrimage, the Lagos state government said.

The group was traveling from Bethlehem to Nazareth when they heard news of the attack in the south of Israel.

With the war erupting, the group and the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims’ Commission organized them to travel by road to Jordan and then take a chartered flight to Lagos.

Switzerland

On Monday evening, Switzerland’s foreign ministry announced that Swiss International Air Lines would send a special flight to Tel Aviv on Tuesday to repatriate the country’s nationals.

The ministry said that around 28,000 Swiss citizens and their families are officially registered as living in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Spain

Spain’s foreign ministry said that the country organized a flight from Tel Aviv overnight to Wednesday with 200 people on board.

South Korea

The foreign ministry said that a flight carrying 192 South Korean citizens took off from Tel Aviv and landed at the Incheon International Airport near Seoul early Wednesday.

Another 30 South Korean nationals will be evacuated later in the week by commercial flights, it said, adding that 27 others, who were in Israel on a Christian pilgrimage, will go by road to neighboring Jordan.

Canada

The Canadian government said it would organize special flights from Tel Aviv later in the week for Canadian nationals, with help from the Canadian military.
France

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna announced on Tuesday that her ministry’s crisis unit was organizing a special Air France flight from Tel Aviv on Thursday to help repatriate any French nationals who have been unable to leave.

With AFP