Israel-Iran War: Foreign Evacuation Operations Increase, What's the Status?

The Czech Republic and Slovakia announced Tuesday that they had repatriated 181 people from Israel on government flights. "It was not possible to send the military aircraft directly to Israel, whose airspace is closed," the Czech Defense Ministry explained.

Germany said repatriation flights were planned for Wednesday and Thursday to evacuate people from Israel via Jordan.

Neighboring Poland said it evacuated about 160 people from Israel on Wednesday, adding that another plane was due to take off from Amman on Thursday to repatriate dozens more Polish nationals.

Greece repatriated 105 people from Israel via Egypt, while a private plane with 148 people on board landed in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on Tuesday.

The United States is preparing for the voluntary evacuation of its citizens from Israel, according to its ambassador to Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee. The embassy is "working on evacuation flights and cruise ship departures" for "American citizens who wish to leave Israel," he said Wednesday on X.

A thousand Pakistanis repatriated from Iran

About 1,000 Pakistani nationals have already been repatriated from Iran, according to Pakistani officials. A senior diplomat also said that the families of diplomats and non-essential staff had been evacuated from Iran.

"The Pakistani embassy in Tehran and our consulates are still functioning normally," he said, while Islamabad hosts thousands of Shiite pilgrims and students in Iran.

Australia has begun evacuating its citizens - some 1,500 from Iran and more than 1,200 from Israel - Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced on Thursday.

"It's not possible to bring in civilian aircraft; it's too risky, and the airspace is closed," she added. A small group of Australians has already been evacuated from Israel via a land border crossing, according to the minister.

Around 110 Indian students evacuated from Iran via Armenia arrived in New Delhi early Thursday morning on a specially chartered flight from the Indian government, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

This first movement is part of the operation called Sindhu (the Sanskrit name for the Indus River), which aims to evacuate all Indian nationals who wish to do so from Iran.

The MEA estimates that there are around 10,000 Indian nationals in Iran, mostly students.

Wellington announced Thursday the closure of its embassy in Iran and the evacuation by land to Azerbaijan of two people who worked there and their families. "If opportunities arise to facilitate the departure of other New Zealanders to Iran and Israel, we will pursue them urgently," Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.

Japan has ordered C-2 military aircraft to be on standby in Djibouti ahead of possible evacuations, a spokesperson announced Thursday. Some 1,000 Japanese are believed to be residing in Israel, and about 280 in Iran, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said.

Japanese embassies in Iran and Israel are also preparing to use buses to evacuate those affected to neighboring countries, he added.