Ministry for Foreign Affairs helps nearly 200 people leave Israel safely

Early Saturday morning, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs repatriated 149 people on its evacuation flight from Israel to Finland. The flight was carried out in cooperation with various authorities under the leadership of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ consular rapid response team. Yesterday, Finland also assisted 31 people in evacuating on a Swedish flight to Stockholm Arlanda Airport in cooperation with the Swedish authorities.

In addition, approximately 20 persons who had registered for the flights to Finland notified the Ministry that they had left the country on evacuation flights from Israel to Europe organised by other countries.

We are still aware of around 20 Finnish citizens or holders of Finnish residence permits who have requested assistance leaving Israel or the Palestinian territories.  We are working to find other ways for those in need of help to leave the country. No more national evacuation flights are planned at this time, but close cooperation with the Nordic countries and EU Member States will continue.

Any travellers remaining in the region are advised to register their travel plans at matkustusilmoitus.fi(Link to another website.) and, in case of emergency, to contact the Foreign Ministry’s 24/7 Service Centre by email at paivystys.um@formin.fi or by phone at +358 9 1605 5555. 

Finland’s Embassy (Link to another website.)in Israel remains operational and will do what it can to help anyone who requests consular assistance. The Embassy is providing updates on the situation on its Facebook(Link to another website.) page.