The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has been in close contact with the more than 200 Taiwanese nationals in Israel and called on them to remain vigilant following a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Department of West Asian and African Affairs Deputy Director Chen Yung-po (陳詠博) said 266 Taiwanese citizens are currently in Israel.
Ninety-three of them are Taiwanese married to Israelis and 149 are children or other family members related to the Taiwanese spouses, while 22 are students in Israel and two are Taiwanese visiting the country for short-term business trips, Chen said.
Photo: AFP
So far none of them have told the ministry or Taiwan’s representative office in Tel Aviv that they wish to leave the country following the bomb attack on Sunday, he said.
The ministry and Taiwan’s office in Israel would stay in close contact with them and offer assistance should they wish to leave the country, he said, without elaborating.
Chen was responding to reporters’ questions about whether any Taiwanese citizens in Israel had asked for the government’s help to leave amid escalating tensions in the region.
On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,199 people and taking 251 people hostage, sparking an invasion of the West Bank that has killed at least 40,173 people, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
Regional tensions escalated after Iran said it would retaliate against Israel for the assassination of a top Hamas leader in Tehran in late July.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion in Tel Aviv on Sunday night that Israeli authorities say killed the suspected attacker and injured a civilian.
Following the attack, Taiwan’s office in Tel Aviv called on its citizens in Israel to remain on high alert. In case of emergency, they are advised to call the office at +972 544 275 204.
With the foreign ministry’s assistance, nine Taiwanese citizens were evacuated from Israel in October last year after the war broke out.
Additional reporting by AFP
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one
RSS