Paweł Jabłoński announced the move in an interview with Polish Radio on Monday, the public broadcaster’s IAR news agency reported.
The deputy foreign minister said the government was above all seeking to evacuate Poles who were on short-term visits to Israel, such as tourists and pilgrims.
He added: “If necessary, we’ll also evacuate Poles who are living in Israel on a permanent basis.”
Jabłoński said Polish diplomatic staff in Israel and in Poland were working “round the clock” to ensure everyone who contacted the Polish embassy and reached the airport in Tel Aviv would be flown out of Israel.
At 5 a.m. on Monday, the first evacuation plane, a military Boeing machine, landed at Warsaw's Okęcie airport, bringing 120 Poles back from Israel, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak took to social media to thank Polish soldiers for completing the operation.
Later on Monday morning, two Hercules military planes brought more Polish citizens from Israel, news outlets reported.
Meanwhile, Poland’s foreign ministry has launched a special helpline, at +48 22 523 88 80, for Polish citizens due to the situation in Israel, officials said.
Polish President Andrzej Duda’s National Security Bureau (BBN) on Sunday said the head of state had ordered the Polish military contingent to help with the evacuation of Poles from Israel, the IAR news agency reported.
The unit, which numbers some 200 troops, will be used together with B-737, C-130 and C-295 aircraft between October 8 and 15, the agency said.
Fighting raged in Israel after Hamas on Saturday breached the border from Gaza in an unprecedented surprise attack, US broadcaster CNN reported.
By Sunday night, officials in Israel said the death toll had passed 700, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The people taken hostage by Hamas include Alex Dancyg, a Warsaw-born Israeli historian and advocate of Polish-Israeli cooperation, who also has Polish citizenship, the PAP news agency reported.
Israel launched air strikes on Gaza and formally declared war on Hamas on Sunday, CNN reported.
Some 413 Palestinians have died so far, according to the Palestinian authorities, the IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, CNN
