MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

More Argentines sign up for evacuation from Israel

An Air Force Boeing 737 will be joining the evacuation efforts

Argentina's Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero admitted Wednesday that the total number of nationals of the South American country who had requested to be evacuated from Israel had increased as he announced that “the airlift tasks will begin in the next few hours.”

 Cafiero's agency confirmed that 1,419 Argentines had sought to be flown on the Air Force C-130 Hercules “air bridge between Tel Aviv and Rome” to then board Aerolíneas Argentinas services to Buenos Aires “as quickly as possible”.

“The cooperation of the entire community is essential in times of violence and uncertainty,” Cafiero also pointed out on social networks and explained that the Foreign Ministry was ”working together with the Argentine-Israeli Welfare Association (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina - AMIA) “so that through private initiatives, we can evacuate Argentine men and women with greater speed.” Cafiero spoke of a private charter flight managed by AMIA.

Air Force Chief Brigadier General Xavier Isaac also announced that the Hercules was “already in the zone” of conflict after a stopover in Cyprus and pointed out that another aircraft -“an Air Force Boeing 737”- would be leaving Thursday to join the evacuation efforts.

The Foreign Ministry updated the figure from 1,304 to 1,419 through Wednesday. So far, seven Argentines have been killed while 15 others are still unaccounted for.

The Air Force airbridge will fly Argentine nationals from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and Rome, where the Aerolíneas Argentinas Airbus 330-200 are waiting.