Dutch people in Israel can go home on a Defense plane from Wednesday and probably on a KLM plane on Thursday, Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot told the ANP news agency. About two hundred people would be eligible for this for the time being.
Dutch people in Israel who want to leave the country since Saturday’s explosion and the subsequent violence have so far had to rely on themselves.
Cooperation with defense
“In recent days it has proven increasingly difficult to book a flight home,” Bruins Slot noted. She therefore decided to ‘facilitate the repatriation’ of Dutch pupils, students and other travelers who were in danger of becoming stranded in Israel.
A military flight will leave Eindhoven on Wednesday to pick up Dutch people, Minister Kajsa Ollongren (Defense) said. The aircraft will probably also arrive back in Eindhoven. If circumstances permit, a KLM flight will follow on Thursday. “It’s very nice that both Defense and KLM have shown themselves so willingly,” says Bruins Slot.
It is being investigated whether more military and civilian flights can be used after this.
Canceled flights
Most airlines have canceled their scheduled flights to and from Israel. On Sunday, Transavia and KLM announced that they had canceled flights. Several foreign airlines no longer fly to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
The Israeli airline El Al still flies between Schiphol and Tel Aviv, but mainly transports Israelis who were traveling and want to return home.
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