The Lithuanian government is considering alternative options for repatriating its citizens stranded in Israel after their flight from Tel Aviv has been postponed a second time, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Centre (NKC), said on Tuesday morning.
“Unfortunately, we have no good news; the flight has been postponed again. Currently, the tentative departure time is 12-14 hours from now,” he told LRT RADIO.
The flight was originally scheduled for Monday night, but was later postponed to Tuesday morning.
“There is congestion and many companies refuse to fly to Israel at all. And the bad news is that commercial, scheduled flights are also being cancelled,” said Vitkauskas.
The NKC head said that Lithuania’s authorities were considering sending military aircraft to Israel to bring back citizens stranded by the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“We are focusing on bringing people back to Lithuania as soon as possible,” he said.
Around 170 people were planning to return to Lithuania from Israel on the flight organised by Skyllence, a subsidiary of Avia Solutions Group.
These include a group of 41 pilgrims who were stranded in Bethlehem and needed government assistance to pass through a checkpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Vitkauskas said “these numbers will grow” due to flight cancelations and urged Lithuanian citizens who need assistance to return home to contact the country’s embassy.
On Saturday, Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, invading its territory and conducting rocket attacks. Israel retaliated with strikes on Gaza. Hundreds of people have been killed on both sides of the conflict.
UN data shows that more than 123,000 people have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip since the start of the escalation.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry says that, based on the embassy’s consular registration data, around 7,000 Lithuanian citizens are currently living in Israel, and 500 more are visiting the country as tourists.
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