The Portuguese Government stated this Friday It is unknown if there are Portuguese citizens among the 50 hostages. of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which should be released according to the four day truce agreed with Israel.
“We have several hostages who have Portuguese nationality. (…) We want the unconditional release of all the hostages, but it is clear that we are very interested in particular in those who have Portuguese nationality. Each case is different, each one has ” There are different specificities, but we are all interested. We are also interceding with the Red Cross and we will work with authorities in other countries that may have some influence so that these hostage Portuguese citizens and all the others are released,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, after a meeting with relatives of hostages, in Tel Aviv, the last point of his visit to Israel.
“We know that there are a series of criteria that have been established and We do not know if there will be Portuguese citizens. contemplated within these 50. We have expectations that all the Portuguese will be released, but naturally, looking at the identified characteristics, In the end there will only be one person who can be released in the coming days. We don’t have it yet no warranty about that,” he added.
According to the agreement between Hamas and Israel, women and minors will be given priority in the release of hostages.
The Portuguese minister highlighted the “Enormous courage” of the hostages’ familiessome of which also go through a period of mourning for the death of family members.
“I told them that we would do everything possible, naturally, to promote the release of these hostages,” he said.
About her trip to Israel, which she made together with her Slovenian counterpart, Tanja Fajon, Gomes Cravinho He mentioned that the conversation he had this morning with the Israeli Foreign MinisterEli Cohen, “It was a conversation between friends.”, and adds: “And it is between friends where sometimes you have to tell hard and difficult truths.”
“We had a conversation, I would say very frank, with the Israeli Minister, to whom I expressed my condolences, my solidarity, but also my deep concern about the attitude towards Gaza and the number of deaths and the violence in Gaza. Therefore, we had points of convergence and points of divergence, but I stressed the importance we give to finding a path to peace, and that the use of violent means is not the best path,” said the head of Portuguese diplomacy.
João Gomes Cravinho also had “a very useful meeting”with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who allowed”think about the future”.
“Thinking about what the nature of Gaza could be in a year’s time, for example, thinking about what role international intervention could play. The path is not easy, but it was extremely interesting to begin to identify some of the elements to use. this tragic situation to project a dynamic of peace,” he stated.
After the trip to Israel, which also included a visit to the ‘kibbutz’ of Sfar Aza, in the south of the country, one of the communities attacked by Hamas on October 7, Portuguese and Slovenian ministers travel to the West Bankwhere they will meet with their Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki, and Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh.
The four-day truce came into effect at 7 a.m. today (5 a.m. in Lisbon) after more than a month and a half of war, as part of an agreement to release 50 hostages in exchange for 150 prisoners. Palestinians.
The war broke out when Hamas members invade southern Israelkilling at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking hostages, including babies, women and the elderly, as well as soldiers.
The Israeli bombings in Gaza, now in their seventh week, have so far left around 15,000 dead in this poor Palestinian enclave, mostly civilians, and injured 33,000, according to the latest report from local authorities, and displaced 1, 7 million people, according to the UN.
Source: TSF
