Second evacuation flight carrying 155 Ukrainians leaves Israel

A second planned flight evacuating Ukrainians from Israel arrived in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca with 155 passengers, most of whom were women and children, Ukraine's Embassy in Israel announced on Oct. 16.

The previous day, 207 Ukrainians were evacuated from Israel on a flight to Bucharest.

Embassy workers cooperated with Romanian authorities on the ground to assist the evacuees.

The embassy also said that its staff was investigating all possible options to evacuate those Ukrainians remaining in Israel who wished to leave.

Around 260 Ukrainian nationals are still located in Gaza and have not been able to evacuate from the besieged territory. There have been conflicting directions from Israeli authorities, who first announced that the Rafah border crossing into Egypt would be opened for foreigners, then revoked permission two hours before evacuations were to begin on Oct. 14.

Palestinian officials reported that the Rafah border crossing would be open as of 9:00 am local time on Oct. 16, but statements from both the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas officials rejected that such a ceasefire plan enabling evacuation was in place.

As of the time of this publication, it is unclear if the border crossing is open, and if foreigners are being allowed to leave.

Ukrainians trapped in besieged Gaza: ‘We are constantly bombed’

Hundreds of Ukrainians have been caught in the crossfire inside the Gaza Strip after Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 prompted Israel to respond with a total blockade and intense bombardment of the small Palestinian enclave. Ukraine is now working to evacuate 243 Ukrainian citizens from Gaza, whic…

The Kyiv IndependentAnastasiia Lapatina