An Air Self-Defense Force airplane arrived in Djibouti in East Africa on Monday, the Japanese Defense Ministry said, in preparation for the possible evacuation of Japanese citizens from Israel amid the country's war with Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The C-2 transport aircraft, which left Japan on Saturday morning along with another C-2 and a KC-767 refueling and transport plane, will remain on standby at a Japan Self-Defense Forces base in Djibouti, around 2,000 kilometers south of Israel.
The other two planes will arrive at the base at a later date, ministry officials said without elaborating.
With the military conflict in the Middle East escalating after a surprise attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 triggered large-scale Israeli retaliation, many nations have been rushing to evacuate their nationals in the area.
On Saturday, 51 Japanese were evacuated from Israel on a South Korean military transport aircraft to an air base outside Seoul, and eight more were evacuated on a Tokyo-chartered flight from Tel Aviv to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.
To conduct an evacuation operation using SDF airplanes, the SDF has formed a joint task force consisting of about 420 personnel from its air and ground forces.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa has said some 1,000 Japanese remained in Israel as of Saturday.
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