Since the outbreak of a new round of conflict between Palestine and Israel on 7 October, the number of casualties has continued to rise. According to statistics, up to now, the conflict has caused more than 8,000 deaths on both sides.
As of the afternoon of the 18th, more than 1,400 Israelis and foreigners had died. Of the confirmed foreign casualty figures, 22 U.S. citizens have died and more than 10 British citizens have died or gone missing. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that four Chinese citizens were tragically killed in the clashes, two were missing and several were injured.
In this conflict, Hamas fired about 8,000 rockets at Israel, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beersheba and other major cities have suffered different degrees of blows. Israel has also carried out a series of retaliatory actions, and in view of the further deterioration of the Palestinian-Israeli situation, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urgently appeals to Chinese citizens in Israel to return home quickly.
Unlike previous responses to unrest in other regions, despite the urgency of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, China has advised Chinese citizens to take their own flights home.
According to public data from the Chinese Embassy in Israel in 2022, there are 25,800 Chinese in Israel, including about 11,000 descendants of immigrants to Israel, about 8,000 people working in Israel, and about 7,000 people traveling to Israel, studying or on business. In addition, several Chinese citizens are still stationed in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian-Israeli regions have met the conditions for the state to organize the evacuation of overseas Chinese, both in terms of the number of Chinese, the level of tension and the risk factor. Since the 90s of the 20th century, China has repeatedly withdrawn its nationals after major international crises.
Successive Chinese evacuation operations
After the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991, 4,873 Chinese nationals left Iraq by land.
In 2006, after the outbreak of riots in the Solomon Islands, China sent chartered flights to bring back 310 overseas Chinese, even though China did not establish diplomatic relations at that time.
In 2010, riots broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan, and China dispatched nine charter planes to evacuate more than 1,300 people.
On January 25, 2011, when anti-government protests broke out in Egypt, China urgently sent four special planes to Egypt to pick up more than 500 Chinese personnel.
In March 2015, civil war broke out in Yemen, and the mainland immediately carried out the evacuation operation. The Linyi and Weifang ships, which were carrying out escort missions in the Somali waters of the Gulf of Aden, were dispatched to safely evacuate more than 500 Chinese citizens and more than 100 foreign Chinese (the 2018 Chinese film box office champion "Operation Red Sea" is based on this event).
The evacuation of Chinese naval personnel from Yemen
The largest evacuation operation since the founding of the People's Republic of China was in February 2011, when large-scale riots broke out in Libya and the situation spiraled out of control. China immediately dispatched civil aviation charter flights, chartered large cruise ships, ocean-going fishing boats and buses, and evacuated nearly 36,000 Chinese nationals in a timely and effective manner. The Chinese Air Force also sent two transport planes from Xinjiang to Libya to participate in the evacuation operation, and the destroyer "Xuzhou", which was carrying out escort missions in the Gulf of Aden, also rushed to relevant waters to escort the evacuated ships.
Libyan evacuation operation
Israel in a special situation
But why not organize a large-scale evacuation operation this time?
Generally speaking, the organization of large-scale evacuation of overseas Chinese in other countries needs to meet three conditions: the ability to mobilize a large number of materials and personnel, the ability to transport and support long-distance transportation, and the full cooperation of the target government. China fully meets the first two conditions.
Immediately after the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, China sent six warships to pay a goodwill visit to the Middle East, two Type 052D destroyers with a displacement of 7,000 tons, two Type 054A frigates with a displacement of about 4,000 tons, and two 903 integrated supply ships with a displacement of 20,000 tons.
7000-ton 052D guided-missile destroyer
4000A missile frigate of the 054-ton class
At present, the fleet is located in the waters of the Middle East and can maneuver to the Mediterranean Sea at any time to carry out evacuation tasks. Moreover, the Chinese embassy also has experience in evacuating overseas Chinese many times, and can transfer materials and personnel at any time, so there is no problem with material conditions at all.
However, the biggest resistance comes from Israel, which has repeatedly called for calm on both sides since the conflict and condemned all violations of international law that harm civilians. And China voted in favour of a resolution that included a condemnation of Hamas, which was vetoed.
In this atmosphere, faced with increasing tensions, China has to prepare for the evacuation of overseas Chinese while calling on Chinese citizens to retreat by plane.
Fortunately, commercial flights in Tel Aviv are still normal, there are still daily flights to and from China, and Chinese citizens can still take commercial flights back to China.
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