Israel To Evacuate İts Citizens From Kathmandu: Fm

Israel will send a plane to evacuate Israeli nationals from Nepalese capital Kathmandu, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Saturday.



He added in a statement that the move would come in the wake of a deadly earthquake that hit the Nepalese capital earlier on Saturday.



The premises of Israel's embassy in Kathmandu sustained damage as a result of the earthquake, according to Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson.



He said on Twitter that embassy staff were looking for Israelis on foot because streets were blocked in the Nepalese capital.



The Foreign Ministry said, meanwhile, that Lieberman called Israeli ambassador in Nepal Yaron Meir to be updated about the situation after the earthquake.



It said the ambassador said the embassy staff were well and that they did their work from the court of the building, which sustained damage.



Hundreds of Israelis arrived to a church in Kathmandu and some of them received medical care before they were moved to the Israeli embassy building in the Nepalese capital, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said on its website.



The newspaper referred to the presence of difficulty in communicating with some Israelis there.



Around 688 people were killed when an earthquake hit Kathmandu earlier on Saturday, according to the Nepalese Interior Ministry.



www.aa.com.tr/en - İsrail