A chartered jet collected the passengers – 130 Poles and nationals of Germany, Austria, France and Ukraine – in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after they travelled there by road from Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said.
Warsaw triggered the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which provides financing and logistics for emergency rescues.
“We receive constant requests from people wanting to leave,” deputy foreign minister Henryka Mościcka-Dendys told reporters, adding that “one more flight” may be organized.
A military transport carrying about 65 evacuees is due to depart Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday. Poland has also started withdrawing non-essential embassy staff from Tehran via Azerbaijan.
European Commission spokeswoman Eva Hrnčířová said Greece, Lithuania and Slovakia had likewise activated the EU scheme, routing their citizens out through Jordan and Egypt. Neighboring Czechia moved first, landing 66 evacuees in Prague on Tuesday.
Polish officials called their country “the first large EU member state” to pull nationals out, noting that Germany did not decide to evacuate until Wednesday.
Olga Koenig, one of the Polish passengers who landed in Warsaw, told Polish Press Agency the process had been “chaotic at first, but in the end smooth”.
Israel’s strikes last week on facilities linked to Iran’s nuclear program ignited six days of cross-border missile and drone fire that has killed hundreds of Iranians and dozens of Israelis, according to local officials, and shuttered commercial flights in and out of Israel, complicating evacuation efforts.
(jh)
Source: PAP