NICOSIA - The Cypriot government has approved an urgent dispatch of medicine and other consumables for Lebanon, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Wednesday.

The spokesman said the health ministry has studied a request by Lebanon, "for the provision of pharmaceutical assistance and consumables to address the humanitarian crisis."

He added that the Cypriot government has also approved additional financial aid specifically for the Palestinians.

The spokesman also announced that more than 2,000 people of 20 different nationalities have been evacuated from Lebanon through Cyprus.

The vast majority of them have already departed to their countries of origin, with the remaining being hosted at accommodation facilities prepared by Cypriot authorities until they find flights out of Cyprus, he said.