Ο war in Israel alerted the Cypriot authorities who are called on the one hand to manage security issues and on the other hand to to handle urgent requests that are increasing day by day and involve flights to and from Israel.
Yesterday (10/10) afternoon, Hamas, 4 days after the first attack, amid Israeli bombardments, the pounding of Ashkelon began with a barrage of rockets right after the end of the Palestinian ultimatum and while a little later rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Israel possibly from Hamas or Hezbollah.
Parallel, Israel yesterday bombed the crossing point from Gaza to Egypt three times, thus interrupting the passage of families to and from the Palestinian enclave that now ends under the "total siege of Israel".
Hence yesterday Tuesday (10/10) and precisely because of the extraordinary situation in the Middle East which seems likely to escalate in the coming days, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Konstantinos Kombos, convened the Ministerial Crisis Management Group, which decided to activate the Special National Plan ESTIA for the reception and repatriation of foreign citizens from the territory of Israel. In the framework of this plan, the Republic of Cyprus offers facilities for the repatriation of foreign nationals from Israel through Cyprus, as well as the safe evacuation of citizens from the Middle East region.
5.000 Israelis per day at Cypriot airports
According to the information provided by Brief from the managing company of Cyprus airports, after the start of the war approximately 5.000 Israelis per day travel to and from Cypriot airports, thus causing inseparability both in the area of arrivals and in the area of departures, especially at Larnaca airport.
At the given moment there are over 20 daily flights to and from Israel's airports, with many of them being extraordinary. These flights look set to increase.
A competent source of the management company commented to the Brief that a dynamic situation is taking shape at the Cypriot airports and Hermes together with the competent authorities are in constant communication for the best handling of any new needs that arise.
In fact, several airlines have announced in recent days that they will increase the number of flights to and from Israel, while as can be seen with a simple search on the tickets, most flights from Cyprus to Israel are sold out.
We should also note that in recent days, cruise ships with around 5.000 passengers, which according to their travel plan would travel to Israel they finally had sail to Cypriot ports.
Source: Brief.com.cy