The situation in Israel is extremely complicated and it is very difficult to get permission from the Israeli authorities to fly. This was said by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov, who led the organization of the flight to evacuate the Bulgarian citizens from the State of Israel, upon their arrival at Sofia Airport. According to the Minister, the preparation of the first humanitarian flight continued throughout the night and this morning at 6.00 a.m., after more than 50 talks with the Israeli Aviation Security Agency, permission was given for the flight to take place.
Later, at a briefing at the Council of Ministers, Minister Gvozdeykov explained that a second flight to Israel had already been organised. "We have the clearance for the flight and the government plane has taken off for Tel Aviv," the transport minister said. Georgi Gvozdeykov stressed that thanks to the good synchronization between the institutions Bulgaria is the first country to take its citizens out on an organized mission. "There has been a wish from other member states to transport their citizens, so if possible we will do that as well," Minister Gvozdeykov said.
On welcoming the passengers at Sofia Airport, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Gabriel said that at the moment there were no reports of injured Bulgarians and the Foreign Ministry was in constant contact with the Bulgarian ambassador in Tel Aviv.
The evacuated Bulgarian citizens were also welcomed by the Chairperson of the National Assembly Rosen Zhelyazkov, Deputy Chairpersons Nikola Minchev and Filiz Husmenova, representatives of the Ministry of Interior, and others.
