THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
October 14, 2023 at 13:41 JST
Air Self-Defense Force members at Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture see off a transport aircraft on Oct. 14 headed to Djibouti to bring back Japanese nationals from Israel. (Tadashi Mizowaki)
An Air Self-Defense Force aircraft departed early Oct. 14 for Djibouti in East Africa to be ready to evacuate Japanese nationals from Israel, where tensions have reached a powder keg following the bloodiest week in the country’s short history.
In a related development, 51 Japanese nationals were flown out of Tel Aviv the same day, according to an announcement by the South Korean government.
Seoul also dispatched a military plane to Israel to evacuate those fleeing the intensified fighting between the Israeli military and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that effectively controls the Gaza Strip and which mounted surprise attacks on Israel that left hundreds dead.
The South Korean military transport plane carried 163 South Korean nationals and six holding Singapore passports, along with the 51 Japanese.
An ASDF KC-767 refueling and transport aircraft left Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture on the morning of Oct. 14.
The SDF has a base in Djibouti and used it to evacuate Japanese nationals from war-torn Sudan in April. The SDF base was initially set up as part of an international anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden.
The Djibouti facility is about 2,400 kilometers from the international airport at Tel Aviv.
A C-2 transport aircraft is scheduled to fly out of the ASDF’s Miho Air Base in Tottori Prefecture and head for Djibouti. A C-2 transport aircraft was used to evacuate Japanese nationals from Sudan in April.
The government also plans to fly a charter plane out of Tel Aviv on Oct. 14 to take Japanese nationals who want to leave Israel. The charter plane will initially head to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for refueling before returning to Japan.
The Israeli government gave very little notice to those working in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south before it moves in troops and fighting on the ground intensifies.
A small number of Japanese nationals are working in the Gaza Strip for international or nongovernmental organizations, according to a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official. Priority is being placed on getting them out safely.
(This article was written by Nobuhiko Tajima in Tokyo and Narumi Ota in Seoul.)
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