Hungary FM: Two Hungarian Air Force planes evacuate 215 people from Israel

As part of a joint rescue operation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Defense, two Hungarian Air Force aircraft with 215 people on board have left Israeli airspace and are now flying safely towards Hungary, Peter Szijjarto posted on Facebook on Sunday evening.

The minister of foreign affairs and trade stressed that one of their most important tasks during the armed conflict in Israel is to bring the Hungarian people in danger home as soon as possible. 

As part of a joint rescue operation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Defense, two Hungarian Air Force aircraft with 215 people on board have left Israeli airspace and are now flying safely towards Hungary, Peter Szijjarto posted.

As always, we only provide information about such actions once the people involved are safe. In this case, too, providing information prematurely would have endangered the lives of hundreds of Hungarian citizens, the foreign minister stressed.

"We thank the authorities of Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania for their cooperation in the swift issuance of the necessary flight permits," Peter Szijjarto wrote.

As Magyar Nemzet reported in an earlier article,  Hungary's foreign minister highlighted that they are in contact with a total of 400 Hungarian citizens staying in Israel. They are continuously provided information about the security situation and the procedures to be followed during air raids.

Israel can count on us in these difficult hours, as I said yesterday in a phone call to Foreign Minister Cohen, my Israeli counterpart. We consider it important that the conflict in the Middle East does not escalate or become more serious, because we know full well that if the situation in the Middle East escalates, it could also have an extremely serious impact on global security,

Peter Szijjarto wrote on social media on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Serbia is also evacuating people, with two planes having arrived in Belgrade. One plane landed at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla airport in the early hours of Monday and one on Sunday, Serbia's public television (RTS) reported. More than two hundred Serbian citizens were evacuated from Israel in two days. Most of the passengers were Serbian athletes and pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. Flights will continue on Monday and Tuesday to airlift Serbian citizens stranded in Israel, the Serb government said.

Cover photo: Hungarian Air Force plane returns from Israel with Hungarian citizens on board (Source: Facebook)