Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani stated on Friday that there have been no new requests for evacuation from Macedonian citizens in Israel or the broader Middle East.

“Currently, we haven’t received any fresh requests for evacuation. We are closely monitoring the situation and I spoke with our ambassador in Israel this morning. There were reports of alleged Israeli attacks on Iran overnight, but these have not been confirmed yet, so I can’t provide further information on that. Nonetheless, these are the details from my morning conversation with our ambassador. We have not received any evacuation requests, either through the SOS line or our embassy,” Osmani told reporters after speaking at the Chamber of Commerce of North Macedonia during his presidential campaign activities.

He noted that the United States has advised its citizens not to leave Tel Aviv and certain areas of Israel due to potential attacks. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue a cautionary message to Macedonian nationals in the region.

“We will continue to communicate with our nationals throughout the day, and we are already in regular contact with those who are there,” Osmani said.

The US Embassy in Israel instructed its employees and their families to restrict their movements after reports that Israel conducted retaliatory strikes on targets in Iran.

After Iran’s attack on Israel on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry established a crisis HQ focused on potentially evacuating Macedonian citizens from Israel and the broader Middle East region if necessary.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that only one Macedonian citizen requested evacuation from Israel in response to the Ministry’s call to nationals in Israel and the Middle East region.

Around 50 Macedonian nationals are currently in Israel. The crisis HQ does not have specific figures on Macedonian nationals in neighboring countries; the only way to obtain this information is through registration at our embassies. Besides the embassy in Tel Aviv, Macedonian citizens can seek assistance at embassies in Cairo, Abu Dhabi, and Doha.

All nationals in the region can contact the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv (+972 549 267 378) and the MFA SOS lines (075 273 732 and 075 268 376) for possible evacuation preparations.