Japan Dispatches ASDF Planes to Djibouti to Evacuate Japanese from Israel

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:22 JST, October 14, 2023

An Air Self-Defense Force aircraft departed for Djibouti on Saturday to evacuate Japanese nationals in Israel amid the fierce conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The KC-767 aerial refueling tanker-transport plane departed from Komaki Air Base in Aichi Prefecture for Djibouti in East Africa at about 10 a.m., carrying ASDF and Ground Self-Defense Force members as their families and colleagues looked on.

The plane will be on standby in Djibouti, where a counter-piracy mission facility is located, in case commercial flight operations are suspended, the ministry said.

Two other transport aircraft also departed from Miho Air Base, Tottori Prefecture, that day, according to the Defense Ministry.