After several terrifying days of hourly bombardments in Georgia, 210 Israelis
and 30 new immigrants arrived on Tuesday night at the Ben Gurion International Airport from Tbilisi.
Approximately 400 additional Israelis are expected to land in Israel later on Tuesday.
| Injured Journalist |
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| Israeli reporter wounded in Georgia / Ynet |
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Award-winning Yedioth Aharonoth journalist Tzadok Yehezkeli seriously wounded by gunfire in Georgia as clashes continue to rage |
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Shlomit Dahan, who was on an organized tourism trip to Georgia when the clashes broke out, told Ynet: “We feel as though we've arrived in a safe haven. We went through a difficult experience. I feel that I was reborn. I can’t explain what we went through. We were in a foreign country, in a foreign war.”
Yardena Milo, who returned from Georgia described her unpleasant experience in Tbilisi. “We were in the hotel when the bombardment began. The refugees who escaped from all over the country tried to break into our rooms.
“We heard rumors that there is no more communication with Israel, that nobody would come and rescue us. We all gathered in one room and it was terrifying.”
Israel’s new ambassador to Georgia told Ynet that anyone who had an Israeli passport was put on a direct flight to Israel and that the embassy’s goal was to bring all the Israeli tourists in Georgia back to Israel.
Pini Avivi, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for Central Europe and Eurasia discussed the operation. “600 Israelis and Jews assembled at the embassy. The objective was to get them out of Georgia by midnight. They're happy to go back home.”
He added that the Israelis arrived in Israel on two El Al planes and one Georgian aircraft.
Avivi said Israeli officials were in close contact with the Georgians and the Russians. “There were two very important conversations," he said, "one between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the second was initiated by the Georgian foreign minister.
“The discussion with Lavrov was very good, very positive. He expressed his admiration for the responsible stance Israel takes during such conflicts.”
Israel also decided to assist Georgia with medical equipment. The Health Ministry announced that it will send two and a half tons of medical supplies to Georgia.
The request to provide relief was transferred to the Health Ministry via the Foreign Ministry.
Tal Rabinovsky contributed to this report
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