Germany to withdraw soldiers deployed to Mideast for evacuations
Berlin will order most of the soldiers deployed to the Mediterranean for a possible evacuation of German citizens from the Middle East back to Germany.
Around 1,000 German soldiers who had been sent to the island of Cyprus are to return to bases in Germany beginning on Wednesday, security sources in Berlin told dpa on Tuesday.
A team of fewer than 200 soldiers and equipment will remain behind for the time being.
Germany’s military also sent special forces units to Cyprus and Jordan in the days following the October 7 attacks on Israel led by the Islamist militant group Hamas.
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German citizens, meanwhile, continue to be slowly allowed to leave the sealed-off Gaza Strip via the lone border crossing to Egypt.
A Palestinian media representative at the Rafah border crossing told dpa on Tuesday that a total of 224 names have been included on a list of German citizens allowed to leave Gaza. Many of them were labelled as dual nationals.
A total of around 370 people, including Swedes, Australians, Portuguese and French nationals, were said to be eligible to leave the territory on Tuesday.
The Egyptian press centre in Cairo said on Monday that all foreign nationals wishing to leave the Gaza Strip should soon have done so.
Source: dpa
