Ministry of Foreign Affairs Issues Special Travel Advisory for Israel: "Refrain from New Entries Recommended"

The government has issued a special travel advisory for Israel, where armed conflict is ongoing due to an attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

At 3 p.m. on the 8th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a joint headquarters-mission countermeasure meeting via video conference to review the situation of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Photo by Ministry of Foreign Affairs

On the 8th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that, considering the current situation in Israel, it will issue a special travel advisory for areas within Israel where it had previously recommended 'refraining from travel' (Travel Alert Level 2).

The travel alert system consists of Level 1: Caution when traveling, Level 2: Refrain from traveling, Level 3: Recommendation to leave the country, and Level 4: Travel ban. The special travel advisory is issued separately for urgent short-term risks for up to 70 days, and its level corresponds to 2.5, which is higher than the 'refrain from traveling' alert.

The Gaza Strip, governed by Hamas, has been designated as a Level 4 travel ban area since July due to escalating tensions. Korean nationals wishing to stay in travel ban areas must obtain exceptional passport use permission separately from the government. A Level 3 recommendation to leave the country alert is applied to the West Bank and areas within 5 km of the Gaza Strip.

The government estimates that there are about 570 long-term Korean residents and approximately 360 tourists in the Israel region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "So far, there have been no reported or identified casualties among our nationals at diplomatic missions, but we are advising residents and travelers to evacuate to safe locations," and added, "It is advisable to depart to a third country if possible and to refrain from new entries."

On the same day around 3 p.m., Foreign Minister Park Jin held a joint headquarters-diplomatic mission video conference to review the Israel-Palestine situation and measures to protect nationals staying there.

Minister Park instructed continuous monitoring of the safety situation of nationals and urged the headquarters and diplomatic missions to cooperate closely and make thorough efforts to establish safety measures for nationals currently staying in the area.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.