Israel evacuated its official representatives from the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday aboard a special military flight that received rare approval to land at Ben Gurion Airport despite the ongoing closure of the country’s airspace to commercial traffic.
The evacuation included staff from the embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate general in Dubai. About 80 people were flown back to Israel on a military aircraft provided by the United Arab Emirates, officials said.
The move comes as thousands of Israeli civilians remain stranded in the UAE after commercial flights were canceled amid regional hostilities. Since the start of the war, Iran has launched missiles and drones not only toward Israel but also toward Gulf states, with the UAE reportedly facing some of the heaviest barrages.
On Monday, debris from a drone strike hit the building housing Israel’s embassy in Abu Dhabi, wounding two Israelis, according to officials.
The evacuation drew criticism in Israel from those who argued it created a moral disparity, leaving civilians behind in an area under attack without access to shelters or warning sirens. Officials said in response that some of those evacuated hold sensitive positions and required immediate extraction for security reasons.
In addition to diplomatic personnel, the flight carried several exceptional cases, including the body of a woman who died in the UAE two days earlier and a 93-year-old Israeli woman.
Israel’s ambassador to the UAE, Yossi Shelley, did not require evacuation and has been in Israel for the past two weeks, officials said.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that “in light of concrete threats to Israeli missions in the United Arab Emirates and at the request of security authorities, nonessential staff were evacuated.” It added that diplomatic teams remain in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai to ensure continued political and consular operations.
Israeli civilians still in the UAE are expected to wait for the reopening of airspace and the implementation of a broader evacuation framework that officials say is set to begin Thursday.