Israel's Foreign Ministry has begun evacuating several families of diplomats in Ethiopia, Walla! News site revealed on Saturday evening, as the fighting between government forces and Tigrayan rebels continued to escalate.
Ministry spokesman Lior Hayat, however, clarified that Israeli diplomats were continuing their work in the embassy in Addis Ababa, "but aside from the uncertainty and a possible deterioration of the situation, some families return to Israel."
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Ethiopian government soldiers ride in the back of a truck on a road near Agula, north of Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia
(Photo: AP)
The Foreign Ministry has also recommended that Israeli citizens avoid visiting the East African country, which has been at war for a year against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in the north of the country.
"The Foreign Ministry recommends that Israeli citizens residing in Ethiopia end their stay in the country due to civil unrest, disruption of movement and access to communications (...) and possibly even departures by plane," the press release stated.
During a press conference on Saturday evening, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he was in contact with other countries to "closely examine what is happening in Ethiopia."
Last Wednesday, Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata — herself of Ethiopian origin — sent an official letter to Bennett asking him to fast-track the immigration to Israel of Ethiopian Jews considering the escalating civil war there.