Thousands of Germans want to leave Israel because of the Hamas attack. The first special flights with returnees have now landed in Frankfurt and Munich. More machines are expected to arrive later in the evening.
The first special flight with Germans stranded in Israel landed in Germany in the afternoon. The plane came from Tel Aviv and arrived at the airport in Frankfurt am Main about an hour late. According to the Foreign Office, 372 Germans were on board.
A few minutes later, the second special Lufthansa flight from Israel landed in Munich. Further special flights are planned for today. The Foreign Office (AA) said that a total of 950 Germans and their family members were able to leave Israel during the day.
More flights, overloaded hotline
On Friday, a total of four planes are scheduled to fly German citizens out of Israel. A spokesman for the AA said on Wednesday that around 5,000 people had signed up on the crisis list of the German embassy in Israel. But he couldn’t say whether all these people wanted to leave. In total, there are more than 100,000 German citizens in Israel, many with dual citizenship.
However, those affected report that the hotlines used to book special flights are extremely overloaded. Dem ARD Studio Tel Aviv There are numerous statements and letters in which the crisis management of the embassy in Tel Aviv, the Foreign Office and also Lufthansa is massively criticized. It is problematic to even get through to the hotline. “I’ve tried it over 250 times,” reports a German, “I’ve been on the phone for four and a half hours.”
Lufthansa charges 550 euros
According to a so-called compatriot letter from the German embassy in Israel, a fee of 300 euros per person is due to take part in the special flights. The money is to be collected when booking via a Lufthansa hotline on behalf of the German Foreign Ministry. Lufthansa charges 550 euros per person, and the state covers 250 euros.
The first countries started repatriation operations for stranded citizens immediately after the Hamas attack began. In some cases they used their own military machines for this purpose. On Monday, three military planes carrying Polish citizens evacuated from Israel landed in Warsaw. Since then, several other EU countries have also organized special flights and brought hundreds of people back.
Departure also by ferry
The AA explained that they are also working on other exit options, such as by bus or ship. The office announced on the X platform (formerly Twitter) that a ferry to Cyprus had been organized for Thursday afternoon. German citizens were informed about this via the so-called “Elefand” system.