"We are not a travel agency, we offer help, and people can use it or not": Ambassador says up to half a thousand Ukrainians in Gaza Strip, asked to evacuate 146

Another 146 Ukrainians have expressed a desire to evacuate from the Gaza Strip. Approximately half a thousand people with Ukrainian passports remain there. Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk said this during a telethon, adding that the embassy is not a travel agency: they offer help, and people decide whether to accept it, a UNN correspondent reports.

Korniychuk expressed confidence that by the end of the week they will be able to evacuate a significant part of the 146 people who expressed a desire to be evacuated.

We have done a lot of work over the past month, and we have received 329 permits for our citizens from the Israelis and Egyptians. We managed to take out 259 people, 172 of whom are already in Ukraine, 

According to him, the rest decided to stay in Egypt or go to Europe on their own.

Korniychuk also said that since the cessation of hostilities and the successful completion of the first phase of the evacuation, an additional 146 applications have been received from Ukrainian citizens who wish to evacuate from the Gaza Strip.

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"During this time since the cessation of hostilities and the successful completion of the first stage of evacuation, we have received an additional 146 applications from citizens, and this is somewhat surprising, because the vast majority of these citizens had permission to leave, but did not use it for various reasons. Someone because the father of the family was not allowed to leave by the competent authorities of Israel and Egypt, someone said that it was quiet, nothing was coming in, and he would stay in the Gaza Strip, and then it started coming in, and they changed their minds," Korniychuk said.

However, according to him, the task now is to obtain a new permit as quickly as possible and take these people to Egypt.

"We have already submitted the documents for approval, the situation is under the control of the President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, we report on this issue daily. I am confident that by the end of the week we will be able to evacuate a significant part of these people who have remained and expressed a desire to be evacuated. The vast majority of them are women and children. Of the 146 new citizens we had not previously planned to evacuate, there are only 54, and more than 110 of them are women and children. I hope that we will receive the permits quickly and successfully complete the evacuation of those who wish to go," Korniychuk said.

In addition, he named the approximate number of Ukrainians who remain in the Gaza Strip because they did not agree to be evacuated.

I think that up to half a thousand people with Ukrainian passports stayed. But then again, we are not a travel agency, we offer people help, and they can use it or not. This is their right,

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