Portugal airlifts 160 nationals to Cyprus from Israel

Cyprus has received 160 foreign nationals airlifted to the island from Israel on a Portuguese military transport plane, with Austria also permitted to operate rescue flights, officials said Wednesday.

Portugal has undertaken three flights from Tel Aviv to Larnaca Airport with a C-130 military transport aircraft to carry their nationals trapped in Israel.

One flight landed Tuesday night, while another two were conducted on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis told the Cyprus News Agency.

He said the aircraft transferred mainly Portuguese nationals from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport to Larnaca.

Gotsis confirmed that eight Cypriots and a few third-country nationals were also on board.

He confirmed that Austria also submitted a similar request to use Cyprus as a transit station, and its military aircraft will depart on Wednesday night.

The rescue flights came after Cyprus offered its services Tuesday as a safe transfer hub for evacuating foreign nationals from nearby Israel after the shock weekend attack by Hamas militants.

Nicosia says there are still a small number of Cypriots in Israel waiting to return home.

"The majority of Cypriots still in Israel have tickets booked on commercial flights, but, if necessary, authorities will arrange for them an alternative route back home," said Gotsis.

European Union member Cyprus has facilitated mass evacuations of foreigners from Lebanon and Sudan in the past.

In 2006, the Mediterranean island welcomed tens of thousands of foreigners evacuated from Lebanon during that year's devastating war between Israel and Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

In April and May this year, after fierce fighting erupted between rival security forces in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Cyprus was a hub for evacuating thousands of foreign nationals in an 11-day airlift.