The Min­istry of For­eign and CARI­COM Af­fairs, with the as­sis­tance of the Gov­ern­ment of the King­dom of Nether­lands have suc­ceed­ed in repa­tri­at­ing a Trinidad and To­ba­go na­tion­al from Is­rael.

This oc­curred on 16 Oc­to­ber, 2023, fol­low­ing the de­te­ri­o­ra­tion of the se­cu­ri­ty sit­u­a­tion in parts of that coun­try.

On Oc­to­ber 7, 2023, the Pales­tin­ian mil­i­tant group Hamas launched at­tacks on Is­rael, killing over 1,400 peo­ple. Re­tal­ia­to­ry strikes from Is­rael have re­sult­ed in the deaths of over 3,400 peo­ple in Gaza.

In a state­ment the Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs said cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go in Is­rael, to­geth­er with hun­dreds of for­eign na­tion­als, have faced chal­lenges in de­part­ing the coun­try due to can­cel­la­tions of in­bound and out­bound flights by ma­jor in­ter­na­tion­al air­lines. The Min­istry said it re­quest­ed and is pleased to have re­ceived the as­sis­tance of the Em­bassy of the King­dom of the Nether­lands in Port of Spain for the in­clu­sion of an adult male Trinidad and To­ba­go na­tion­al on a repa­tri­a­tion flights out of Is­rael on Oc­to­ber 16, 2023, in the midst of this de­vel­op­ing sit­u­a­tion.

The Min­istry said it was then able to arrange and fa­cil­i­tate the na­tion­al’s on­ward jour­ney from Am­s­ter­dam, re­sult­ing in his ar­rival in Port of Spain on Oc­to­ber 18, 2023.

The Min­istry said it con­tin­ues to mon­i­tor the sit­u­a­tion in the Mid­dle East and to es­tab­lish and main­tain con­tact with Trinidad and To­ba­go cit­i­zens who are cur­rent­ly in the re­gion.