The Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, confirmed this Wednesday that the 16 Portuguese referred by the Government in Gaza “have already left” and that there are more than a dozen Palestinians who can also come to Portugal for humanitarian reasons.
“The last person left yesterday,” revealed the head of Portuguese diplomacy on the sidelines of a meeting dedicated to the Foreign Affairs of nine southern European countries, so “the list of priorities is already exhausted.”
In addition to these 16 nationals, the Portuguese executive also has a “list of ten to twelve Palestinians” that it wants to remove from Gaza “so that they can be safe and come to Portugal.”
Without wanting to go into details “because there is great sensitivity in the dialogue with the authorities”, Gomes Cravinho confirmed to the journalists present at the scene that these are people “with connections to Portugal”, specifying that “one has a residence visa and the others have family ties”, justifying their departure for “humanitarian reasons”.
“They will be welcomed in Portugal without any difficulty,” he said after a meeting in which he highlighted his “satisfaction” with the news about the “release of hostages and a temporary humanitarian ceasefire” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
In the debate there was also “a consensus around the need to take advantage of the moment to create a dynamic towards an eventual recognition of the two States”, and which, he maintains, was reinforced “after what happened on October 7”, day of the Hamas attack.
“Sometimes tragedies create conditions for us to have hope,” said the minister, warning that this is a problem that not only cannot be ignored but that “will continue to exist if we do not know how to find a solution.”
Source: TSF
