China urges citizens in Israel to leave as soon as possible

AFP , Monday 23 Sep 2024

China has urged its citizens in Israel to leave "as soon as possible", as tensions between Israel and Lebanon escalate.

lebanon
A woman takes a photograph on an Israeli flag deployed on the wall of a damaged building in Kiryat Bialik in the Haifa district of Israel, following a strike by Lebanon's Hezbollah, September, 2024. AFP

 

"Currently, the situation along the Israel-Lebanon border is extremely tense, with frequent military conflicts," China's embassy in Israel said in a statement on Sunday.

"The security situation in Israel remains severe, complex, and unpredictable," the statement added.

The embassy urged Chinese citizens in Israel to "return home or relocate to safer areas as soon as possible".

Israel and Hezbollah threatened on Sunday to escalate their cross-border attacks despite international calls for both sides to step back from the brink of all-out war.

It came after a series of Israeli coordinated communications device blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday across Lebanon that killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000.

An Israeli air strike in a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut Friday later killed the head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.

China last month asked its citizens in Lebanon to leave after an Israeli strike in the country killed a senior Palestinian leader.

Short link: