Israel will evacuate the families of Israeli diplomats stationed in Ethiopia due to the escalating civil war in the country, the Foreign Ministry announced Saturday.
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According to the ministry, the diplomats themselves will continue to work in the country, however, due to the unpredictability of the situation, most of their family members will be evacuated.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said they were keeping a close eye on the events and were in touch with the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry and other countries who have missions in the African country.
"For the safety of the people, I will not go into more details," he said.
The ministry also issued a travel warning for Ethiopia. Already on Wednesday, it issued an advisory against non-essential travel after the Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency. With the civil unrest disrupting communications, traffic and even flights, the ministry called on Israeli citizens staying in Ethiopia to leave immediately.
Meanwhile, lawmakers urged for the extraction of Ethiopian Jews. Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata called on the government to take immediate action.
Every additional day of stalling could come at a heavy price, she said.
Similarly, Labor Secretary-General Eran Hermoni said the "government must launch an emergency rescue operation to bring them [Ethiopian Jews] to Israel due to the deteriorating security situation in the country. The Israeli government cannot abandon our brethren in Ethiopia whose lives are in danger."
The war in Ethiopia erupted a year ago, with rebel forces from the northern region of Tigray now making their way to capital Addis Ababa, after successfully overtaking several key towns on the way. There were reports of massacres of Ethiopian soldiers and civilians by the rebels.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called on the residents to arm themselves to defend their neighborhoods amid expected escalations.
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