Poland urges its nationals to exit Middle East 'as soon as they can'

WARSAW

Poland on Monday again advised Poles in the Middle East to depart "as soon as they can" due to escalating tensions in the region.

"I appeal once again - if someone does not need to stay in the Middle East, now is not the time to be there," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Polish Radio Monday. “The Middle East is very unsettled. We have contingency plans, including those related to humanitarian aid,” he added.

On Oct. 1, Sikorski called on remaining Poles in Lebanon to evacuate, after Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported 105 people had been killed and 359 injured in Israeli strikes.

Monday marks a year of brutal Israeli war on Gaza that has killed nearly 42,000 people since Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel's recent attack on Hezbollah and the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah triggered an unprecedented airstrike by Iran on Israel, which threatens to spill over into an armed conflict across the Middle East.

Sikorski last week said the conflict in the Middle East could shift global attention away from Russia's war on Ukraine.