Accessibility links

Breaking News

Zelenskyy: Ukraine Working to Evacuate Citizens From Gaza, Israel


People load their belongings onto a bus as they evacuate from the southern Israeli town of Sderot, Oct. 15, 2023.
People load their belongings onto a bus as they evacuate from the southern Israeli town of Sderot, Oct. 15, 2023.

Ukraine is working to evacuate nearly 260 of its citizens from Gaza and to fly other Ukrainians out of Israel, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday.

Ukraine's embassy in Israel said on social media Saturday that 207 Ukrainian citizens, including 63 children, were evacuated from Tel Aviv to Romania on Saturday and that another flight would take 155 people to Romania on Sunday.

Many countries are working to get their citizens out of Israel and Gaza and send in humanitarian aid to civilians.

Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said three parties would have to approve the departure of Ukrainians from Gaza, complicating the process.

"The Palestinians need to release all Ukrainian citizens, Egypt to accept them and Israel should not conduct any operation at this time, so that the crossing point would be safe," he said in remarks televised Sunday.

Egypt says its side of the Rafah crossing that connects Sinai with the Gaza Strip remains open, though traffic has been halted for several days due to Israeli bombardments on the Palestinian side of the border. Israel's military spokesperson said Saturday that the border remains closed and any crossing into Egypt needed to be coordinated with Israel.

Ukraine's foreign ministry protested to Israel after Ukrainian citizens were not allowed to evacuate from Gaza on Saturday.

Zelenskyy has condemned the attacks by Hamas on Israel, calling for world solidarity with Israel.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG