Coronavirus: Israel to send El Al plane to return Israelis from Peru
Foreign Ministry to bring home 380 Israelis stranded in Moldova
By TOVAH LAZAROFFA woman wears a protective face masks after a case of coronavirus was confirmed in the country, at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru March 6, 2020.(photo credit: SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA/REUTERS)
Israel planes to send an El Al plane to Peru to return young post-army Israelis who are stranded there, now that the country’s borders are closed because of the coronavirus.The first plane will leave on Thursday. It’s estimated that some 1,000 Israelis are still in the South American country, which is under martial law.“The young people will be brought to Israel free of charge,” Foreign Ministry Israel Katz said.Representatives from El Al, the Foreign Ministry and the Peruvian government are coordinating the Thursday flight. Israelis will be given a police escort to the airport in Lima.“This is the application of the principle of mutual responsibility under which the State of Israel operates in a time of emergency,” Katz said. He added that the Foreign Ministry was organizing funds for a second flight.Israelis in Europe and Latin America are struggling to return to Israel, as countries are closing their borders are airlines are halting flights.But those in Peru are in a particularly fragile situation, because they are there as travelers on tight budgets with scant resources in a country under lockdown, where they are not allowed on the streets. The Foreign Ministry has already returned 380 Israeli students from Moldova on two Israir Airline flights.Israel’s ambassador in Moldova helped obtain the permits necessary for the planes to land. A third aircraft will bring additional students from Moldova on Wednesday.The Foreign Ministry has also warned that the island of Luzon in the Philippines will close its borders on March 19.
