A man holding a baby waits for the opening of the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on Oct. 16, 2023. The Gaza-ruling Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Monday denied reports that it had agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Photo: Xinhua

China has no plans to evacuate citizens from Israel at the current stage as there are still commercial flights operating between Chinese cities and Israel. Meanwhile, Chinese companies in Israel are making arrangements for employees to take those commercial flights out of the country in an orderly manner, the Global Times learned from a source.

China's Hainan Airlines is still operating two flights per week from Tel Aviv to Shenzhen currently, so there are no plans for the government to evacuate Chinese citizens from Israel, the source told the Global Times on Friday, noting that many other countries have evacuated their citizens from Israel since the conflict broke out as commercial flights were suspended.

However, the source said the Chinese embassy in Israel is closely monitoring the situation and will make decisions accordingly.

On Thursday, the embassy advised Chinese citizens to leave Israel as soon as possible using commercial flights that are still operating in order to avoid risks. Those who have the means can also choose to leave the country through land border crossings, such as by driving, as long as safety is guaranteed, said the embassy.

More than 280 Chinese citizens trapped in the southern Israeli city of Sderot were evacuated by the Chinese embassy, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a Friday briefing. Mao said that according to preliminary statistics, more than 1,000 Chinese citizens have left Israel and returned to China or traveled to a third country since the outbreak of the conflict. 

Meanwhile, the embassy is operating normally to ensure the normal operation of consular document services, in order to meet the needs of Chinese citizens returning to China or leaving Israel.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday that four Chinese were killed during the conflicts, two are missing and six wounded.