“Since when were there Israelis residing in Malaysia,” Saifuddin Abdullah said on X (formerly Twitter) in response to a claim posted by one Ragip Soylu.

Ragip had claimed that Israel’s national security council had told Israelis in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Malaysia to leave amid tensions over the war in Gaza.

Malaysia and Israel do not have diplomatic ties.

When it was pointed out by another netizen that those with dual citizenship could enter the country by using another country’s passport, Saifuddin said he hoped “our immigration is solid enough”.

He also agreed to a suggestion that there needs to be a system to monitor those considered persona non grata from making use of their dual citizenship to enter Malaysia.

Al Jazeera reported that Israel had urged its citizens to immediately leave Egypt and Jordan, and to try and avoid travelling to other regional countries.

It also suggested Israelis not to travel to countries including Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Maldives.

Israel has launched a military offensive against the Gaza Strip after the Hamas militant group attacked towns in Israel on Oct 7. More than 3,000 people have been killed on both sides since.