MOFA in contact with Taiwanese in Israel amid regional instability

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said on Tuesday that it has been in close contact with all 200-plus Taiwanese nationals currently in Israel and called on them to remain vigilant following a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

Chen Yung-po (陳詠博), deputy head of MOFA's Department of West Asian and African Affairs, said there are currently 266 Taiwanese citizens in Israel.

According to Chen, 93 of them are Taiwanese married to Israelis and another 149 are children or other family members related to these Taiwanese spouses.

There are also another 22 Taiwanese students in Israel and another 2 Taiwanese nationals visiting the country for short-term business trips, he added.

So far none of them have told MOFA nor Taiwan's representative office in Tel Aviv that they wish to leave Israel following the bomb attack in the city on Sunday, Chen said.

MOFA and Taiwan's office in Israel will keep in close contact and offer assistance should they wish to leave the country, he said, without elaborating.

Chen's remarks were made during a MOFA briefing on Tuesday when reporters asked him if any Taiwanese citizens in Israel have asked for the government's help to leave amid escalating tensions in the region.

There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and Israel's ensuing invasion of Gaza.

Regional tensions further escalated recently after Iran said it would retaliate against Israel for the assassination of a top Hamas leader in Tehran in late July.

Hamas has claimed it was responsible for a bomb explosion in Tel Aviv on Sunday night that Israeli authorities say killed the suspected attacker and injured a civilian.

Following Sunday's 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 on +972 544 275 204.

With MOFA's assistance, nine Taiwanese citizens evacuated from Israel in October 2023 after the Israel-Hamas War broke out.