OREANDA-NEWS Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak announced the creation of an evacuation bridge from Israel amid the aggravation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"The Polish army will launch an evacuation bridge for Polish tourists from Israel. We will transport our compatriots aboard military aircraft to Crete, from where they will safely return to the country," the head of the Polish Defense Ministry wrote on Monday in his official account on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

On the eve it became known about two C-130 Hercules military transport planes and one Boeing 737 of the Polish Ministry of Defense sent to Israel.

Later, they all returned to Warsaw, having evacuated 268 Polish citizens. Boeing is currently making another evacuation flight.

Lithuanian and Polish Presidents Gitanas Nauseda and Andrzej Duda held a telephone conversation during which the parties discussed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Polish side expressed its readiness to return Lithuanians from Israel.

"According to the President, if the need arises, Poland is ready to support the return of our citizens to Lithuania with flights of its Air Force in the near future," the presidential department said in a statement.

Nauseda expressed gratitude to Duda for his "quick reaction and willingness to help Lithuanians return to their homeland from war-torn Israel."

According to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, about 7 thousand Lithuanian citizens living in Israel and about 500 more people staying in the country as tourists are on the consular register of the Lithuanian Embassy in Israel.

According to the National Crisis Management Center, only one group of 41 pilgrims needs state assistance to return to Lithuania.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated sharply on October 7 after a large-scale attack by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip on Israel.