China urges citizens in Israel to leave 'as soon as possible'
The embassy urged Chinese citizens in Israel to 'return home or relocate to safer areas as soon as possible'.
An emergency worker takes a photograph on an Israeli flag deployed on the wall of a damaged building in Kiryat Bialik in the Haifa district of Israel, following a reported strike by Lebanon's Hezbollah on 22 September 2024. Picture: AFP
BEIJING - China has urged its citizens in Israel to leave "as soon as possible", as tensions between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah escalate.
"Currently, the situation along the Israel-Lebanon border is extremely tense, with frequent military conflicts," China's embassy in Israel said in a statement on Sunday.
"The security situation in Israel remains severe, complex, and unpredictable," the statement added.
The embassy urged Chinese citizens in Israel to "return home or relocate to safer areas as soon as possible".
Israel and Hezbollah threatened on Sunday to escalate their cross-border attacks despite international calls for both sides to step back from the brink of all-out war.
An Israeli air strike in a densely populated Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut Friday killed the head of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, Ibrahim Aqil.
It came after a series of coordinated communications device blasts on Tuesday and Wednesday across Lebanon that killed 39 people and wounded almost 3,000, and which were blamed on Israel.
China last month asked its citizens in Lebanon to leave after an Israeli strike in the country killed a senior Palestinian militant.