Papua New Guinea has announced a temporary closure of its embassy in Israel due to on-going attacks between Israel and Hamas.

PNG Foreign Affairs Secretary, Elias Wohengu released a statement dated 26th October 2023 and explained the stand PNG government has taken to temporarily close the embassy as of 17th October.

Wohengu said the two foreign affairs officers assigned to set up the embassy were recalled back because of the security concerns.

The PNG government is also aware that 18 PNG citizens departed Israel through the assistance of Australia’s repatriation exercise that was extended to Pacific Island countries at the start of the conflict.

PNG opened it’s embassy in Jerusalem in September, months before Hamas launched it’s suprise attack.

During the initial attack, Prime Minster Marape had cautioned Israel on how it should respond to the Hamas attack.

However the attacks have escalated since and the death toll is now in the thousands.