Thousands of people converged on Cyprus on Thursday as the island became a transport hub, both for Israelis attempting to return to the country, and for others attempting to flee the Middle East, as the conflict between Israel and Iran continues.
Larnaca airport, now a key junction for those attempting to travel to and from Israel, was filled with crowds of people attempting to return to their respective home countries, with some talking to the Cyprus Mail about the ordeal.
“It’s getting more and more unbearable, rockets are threatening our lives,” a group of young men in their thirties and twenties from Portugal and Spain, all of whom also have Israeli citizenship, said.
Countries evacuating citizens from Iran and Israel
AUSTRALIA
The Australian government evacuated by land a small group of the 1,200 Australians seeking to leave Israel on Wednesday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday.
Around 2,000 Australians in Iran have registered for assistance.
AUSTRIA
48 Austrians have left Israel or neighboring Jordan, out of the 200 who reported to the Tel Aviv embassy, the Foreign Ministry said. Around 100 Austrians have requested to leave Iran. 44 Austrian and EU citizens have been evacuated towards Turkey and Armenia, it added.
BULGARIA
Bulgaria has evacuated 17 diplomats and their families from Iran to Azerbaijan and will repatriate them by land and air, the Bulgarian government said. An administration at the Bulgarian embassy in Tehran is moving temporarily to Baku.
CHINA
China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and hundreds more from Israel, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. Several thousand Chinese nationals are thought to reside in Iran, according to state media reports.
CZECH REPUBLIC
A flight with 66 people evacuated from Israel had landed near Prague, Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova said.
FRANCE
France will arrange a convoy by the end of the week from Iran to the Turkish or Armenian borders, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday.
French citizens in Israel can board buses starting Friday morning from the Jordanian border, with a flight chartered from Amman, Barrot said.
GERMANY
345 German citizens have left the Middle East region, the foreign ministry said, after the country provided charter flights to Germany.
GREECE
Greece has evacuated 16 nationals and their families by land from Iran to Azerbaijan and is now working on their repatriation to Greece, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.
INDIA
India said on Wednesday it has launched “Operation Sindhu” to evacuate Indian nationals from Iran. 110 Indian students have been evacuated from northern Iran into Armenia on June 17, India’s foreign ministry said.
ITALY
Italy is organizing a charter flight from Egypt on June 22 to allow its citizens to leave Israel if they want to.
29 of the about 500 Italian nationals leaving in Iran already left the country on Wednesday with assistance from the government, a diplomatic source said.
JAPAN
Japan’s government said on Thursday it would send two Self-Defense Forces transport aircraft to Djibouti in preparation for the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Iran and Israel.
Japanese embassies in Israel and Iran are preparing to evacuate citizens to neighbouring countries by bus as early as Thursday.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand temporarily closed its Tehran embassy and evacuated two staff and their families by land to Azerbaijan.
POLAND
A group of Polish citizens evacuated from Iran landed in
Warsaw on Thursday morning, ending the evacuation from the country, the Foreign Ministry said.
The first plane evacuated from Israel landed in Warsaw on Wednesday morning and a second one is expected on Thursday afternoon from Amman, with 65 people on board.
PORTUGAL
Portugal has temporarily shut its embassy in Iran and evacuated four of its citizens via Azerbaijan.
It has received 130 repatriation requests from citizens in Israel and is organising a repatriation flight, expected to land in Portugal later on Thursday, the foreign ministry said.
SERBIA
A group of 100 Serbs have fled Israel via Egypt, ambassador Miroljub Petrovic said on Thursday.
SIERRA LEONE
36 citizens were evacuated to Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
SLOVAKIA
The first evacuation flight with 73 people, 25 tourists and five family members of Slovak diplomats working in Tel Aviv arrived in Bratislava on Monday, Slovak authorities said. The foreign ministry said on Friday it would temporarily close its embassy in Tehran and was fully evacuating staff from the country.
SOUTH KOREA
Eighteen South Korean nationals and two of their family members who are Iranian nationals were evacuated by land from Iran, South Korea’s foreign ministry said.
TAIWAN
36 Taiwanese have been evacuated from Israel via the land crossing with Jordan, while three Taiwanese have left Iran via the land border with Turkey, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said.
UNITED STATES
The United States is working to evacuate U.S. citizens wishing to leave Israel by arranging flights and cruise ship departures, U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee said in a post on X on Wednesday.
VIETNAM
Vietnam’s foreign ministry told its citizens in Israel and Iran to get ready for evacuation and 18 Vietnamese citizens have already been evacuated from Iran.
They were due to fly to Lisbon on a chartered flight organised by the Portuguese embassy in Nicosia which departed on Thursday afternoon with Portuguese nationals, as well as their partners and relatives, on board.
One of the group explained to the Cyprus Mail the extent of their journey to the island, saying they were first taken by bus from Israel to the Egyptian town of Taba, located in the Sinai peninsula next to the Israeli border, and just 11 kilometres from the Israeli city of Eilat.
From Taba, he said, the group was taken to Sharm El-Sheikh, where they boarded a military aircraft and flew to Cyprus.
Another traveller, a 25-year-old Jewish Canadian, told the Cyprus Mail he had arrived in Larnaca two days ago aboard the Crown Iris in a privately organised cruise arranged by the organisation he was travelling with, Birthright Israel.
Around 1,500 people of Jewish origin – citizens of the United States, Canada and Australia – arrived at the Larnaca port on Wednesday morning aboard the cruise ship Crown Iris, which had departed from the Israeli port of Ashdod the day before.
“They took us all to the port here in Larnaca and then we were taken to Paralimni, where we stayed until this morning,” one passenger said.
He said he had seen nine flights cancelled since first attempting to leave Israel, but that he is now heading to Canada.
“The Canadian embassy [in Tel Aviv] didn’t do anything. They didn’t consider it an emergency,” he added, saying there was no form of evacuation or official support.
Two Arab Israelis in their fifties were also among the travellers. They had travelled to Georgia before the conflict started, before finding themselves unable to secure a direct route home. They had arrived in Cyprus on Thursday morning.
“We were stuck in Georgia for about a week before we managed to get a flight to Larnaca,” one of the pair said, adding that they would then fly to Taba, before returning to Israel.
According to their plan, they are expected to be home by tonight.
“We were told there are buses with Israeli security from Taba. From there, we will cross the border, reach Eilat in southern Israel, and then continue to Tel Aviv before heading to our homes in the north,” one of the pair said.
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