MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil not giving up rescuing people from war-torn Gaza

“We will continue to take care of you in the best possible way,” Lula promised a group of people who landed in Brazil from Gaza on Dec. 23

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Brazil was still willing to welcome anyone who wanted to return from the Gaza Strip, Agencia Brasil reported. The head of state made those remarks on Christmas Day over lunch with a group of people who had arrived from the war-torn area on Dec. 23.

The President insisted Brazil's diplomacy would continue to work to repatriate Brazilians and relatives who are still in Gaza. “As long as there is someone in the Gaza Strip who wants to return to Brazil, we will be available to help them” leave the conflict zone between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in the Middle East.

“It is not humanly possible to accept what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The death of so many women and children is not possible. The destruction of all the heritage built by the Palestinian people,” added Lula, referring to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The president also defended “the urgent need for the release of [Israeli] hostages” still held by Hamas.

Lula praised the work of the Operation Returning in Peace multidisciplinary team and said that the government would not leave the returnees without assistance. “I want you to have a very peaceful lunch and know that we will continue to take care of you in the best possible way.”

Participating in the lunch were 21 of the 30 people who arrived on Brazilian soil in a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight from Cairo, the third such mission for people exclusively returning from Gaza. The other passengers have already made their way to their final destinations, in states such as Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo, Agencia Brasil also reported.

Lula arrived at noon at the Transit Hotel at Brasília Air Base, where the returnees are housed temporarily. When he arrived, he talked to the repatriated children and took a photo with the group.

Brazil's diplomatic representation in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, in the West Bank, estimates that there are still 23 people awaiting approval from the authorities to cross the border at Rafah, the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Each list of returnees needs to be approved by the Israeli, Egyptian, and Palestinian authorities. On Brazil's side, the exit authorization negotiations are mediated by the Foreign Ministry (MRE) through the embassies in Tel Aviv (Israel) and Cairo (Egypt), and also through the representation in Ramallah.

In all, the Brazilian government's Operation Returning in Peace repatriated 1,555 passengers and 53 pets on 13 FAB flights.

Brazil also donated and delivered to the conflict region 40 portable water purifiers; two medicine kits weighing 267 kilos; voltaic kits totaling six tons; and supplies and provisions for humanitarian assistance weighing 12 tons.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)