Georgia’s Israel Ambassador rejects “unfounded reports” about leaving state

In his social media post, Zhvania said there was “no reason” to leave the country and added all employees of the Embassy were working “round-the-clock for the seventh day” since the start of the incidents. Photo: Lasha Zhvania/Facebook

Agenda.ge, 13 Oct 2023 - 19:29, Tbilisi,Georgia

Lasha Zhvania, Georgia’s Ambassador to Israel, on Friday rejected “unfounded reports” of having left Israel on the backdrop of attacks by Hamas on the country’s territory and the anticipated ground operation by the Israeli armed forces into Gaza.

In his social media post, Zhvania said there was “no reason” to leave the country and added all employees of the Embassy were working “round-the-clock for the seventh day” since the start of the incidents.

He also said the Georgian Foreign Ministry was working with Georgian Airways to schedule additional commercial flights to the country, while the Embassy had launched hotline numbers for Georgian nationals in Israel.

Starting on Saturday, Hamas launched more than 5,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel territory, with the group’s fighters entering Israeli territories and kidnapping citizens, both alive and dead. The Israeli Government declared a state of war alert, has bombed Gaza and is preparing for an expected ground operation into the sector.

Georgian officials, including the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, President Salome Zourabichvili and Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, condemned the attacks on Saturday.