A flight chartered by the Japanese government to evacuate eight Japanese nationals from Israel arrived in Dubai Saturday night local time, while a separate South Korean military flight ferrying 51 Japanese citizens from Israel arrived in South Korea, amid fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
The flight was the first by the Japanese government to evacuate nationals from Israel as the Middle Eastern country gears up for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip following the stunning attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,300 people in Israel and prompted retaliatory Israeli strikes that have left an estimated 2,200 Gazans dead as of Saturday.
After arriving in Dubai, the evacuees were responsible for their own transportation to destinations beyond the United Arab Emirates' most populous city.