International desk: The Austrian Foreign Ministry organised the evacuation of more than 430 people from Israel in two days. “Today, the last evacuation flight from Israel, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, landed in Vienna. In 48 hours, we took more than 430 people out of the crisis zone,” the ministry said on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The first plane carrying Austrian citizens evacuated from Israel arrived in Vienna on Thursday afternoon, with 176 people on board. It was assumed that holders of Austrian citizenship would be evacuated by a military plane on Wednesday, but it could not take off due to a technical malfunction.
On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel to declare a state of war the following day and launch retaliatory strikes. On October 9, Israel ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, cutting off supplies of water, food and fuel. Both Israel and Palestine have reported over 1,000 deaths and thousands of injured as a result of the escalation.
