After a tense and perilous journey, 105 Greeks, along with nationals from 15 other European and third countries, were safely repatriated from Israel early Wednesday.
The complex operation, spearheaded by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and supported by Greek embassies in Tel Aviv and Cairo, concluded at dawn with their arrival at the 112th Combat Wing of Elefsina.
Among those brought home was singer Giorgos Semos, who vividly recounted the terror of his final days in Israel.
“The operation was very difficult, as they told us at the consulate,” he stated. “I have been in Israel for five months… The last four days have been hell. Continuation in shelters, sirens blaring four to five times a day. Things were difficult, and we all experienced difficult situations.”
The dangers extended to the evacuation itself. “The return was a bit difficult,” Semos continued, “because in the middle of the road we were caught by sirens, we had to get off the bus, fall down as much as we could to protect ourselves because we were on the road, there was no room to go anywhere, there were no tunnels, no shelters. After 20 minutes we had to leave, we took a risk of course.”
Despite a minor delay for double passport checks in Cairo, the group’s safe return by Hellenic Air Force C-130 and C-27 aircraft from Sharm El Sheikh marks the successful conclusion of a high-stakes rescue.
Also on Wednesday, the first plane bringing Israelis who are stranded abroad because of the country’s shuttered airspace has landed at Ben Gurion Airport, the airport’s authority said.
“A little while ago, the first flight landed at Ben Gurion Airport as part of Operation ‘Safe Return’,” the Ministry of Transport said in a post on Telegram. The flight, operated by El Al, landed on Wednesday morning and brought home Israelis who were in Larnaca, Cyprus. Minister of Transportation Miriv Regev says they aim to “repatriate all Israelis.”
The BBC reports that on the sixth day of conflict, there have been more Israeli strikes on Iran, as Iran has responded by launching more missiles at Israel. Explosions were heard in and around Tehran around dawn. Reports say Israeli air strikes hit a key missile production facility and an academy linked to the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Hours earlier, the Israeli military had issued an evacuation order for people in Tehran’s District Eighteen, which includes military buildings and residential neighborhoods.
In Israel, air raid alerts sounded twice overnight as Iran responded, saying it had used a hypersonic missile, but there have been no reports of casualties.
The scale of the Iranian attacks has diminished, an indication of the impact of the Israeli air strikes on Iran’s military, BBC reports.
In a series of social media posts, one of them in Hebrew, the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Iran would never compromise with Israel, adding “the battle begins”.
