8 Japanese Evacuated from Israel on Charter Flight to Dubai

Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government-chartered plane carrying eight Japanese nationals who wished to evacuate from Israel departed from an airport near Tel Aviv and arrived in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on Saturday night local time. It is the first time for the Japanese government to support the evacuation of Japanese nationals since the start of the fighting between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel. Tokyo decided that it was necessary to arrange a charter flight in light of the situation where there are limited commercial flights from Israel. The charter flight to Dubai covered Japanese nationals who clarified their wish to leave Israel. It is up to each of them to decide where to go after arrival in the UAE city. Meanwhile, 51 Japanese nationals got on board a South Korean military aircraft that Seoul had sent to Israel with the objective of evacuating South Korean citizens. The transport aircraft arrived at a South Korean military airport near Seoul on Saturday night local time. On Sunday morning, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa held phone talks with her South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, and conveyed her gratitude for the support South Korea has extended to Japan. Speaking to reporters after the talks, Kamikawa said she agreed with Park to cooperate with each other regarding the evacuation of Japanese and South Korea citizens from Israel. The Japanese foreign minister also said Tsukasa Uemura, the government's representative for Middle East peace efforts, will be sent to the region for talks with local officials in hope of calming down the situation. As of Saturday, about 1,000 Japanese nationals were in Israel. The government has received no reports of injuries to them. END