The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, this Thursday expressed regret over the deaths of five civilians in an explosion in the Gaza Strip, including three Portuguese citizens, as well as all the victims of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The head of state, who is in Bissau, expressed his “solidarity with the peaceful victims of the bombing in the south of Gaza” through a note published on the official website of the President of the Republic on the Internet.
This note states that “The President of the Republic, like the government, regrets the deaths of five civilians as a result of today’s explosion. [quarta-feira] in southern Gaza, including three Portuguese, and expresses its deepest solidarity with the families, as well as with all the victims of this conflict.”
“The President of the Republic hopes that in the coming days a group of Portuguese-Palestinian citizens will be able to leave Gaza for Egypt,” he adds in a short two-paragraph message that does not mention Israel. .
The President of the Republic is in Bissau to attend the official celebration of the 50th anniversary of Guinea-Bissau’s independence on Thursday, together with Prime Minister António Costa and Foreign Minister João Gomes Craviño.
At a hotel in the Guinean capital late Wednesday, the foreign minister responded to news of the deaths in the Gaza Strip, which he mourned on behalf of the government and said the bombings must stop.
“The Portuguese government deeply regrets the death this afternoon in the Gaza Strip of five people, three nationals and two members of their families, as a result of an explosion,” João Gomes Cravinho told reporters.
The Foreign Minister said that “one adult and two children” of Portuguese nationality had died and said he conveyed his “disgust at these deaths” to his Israeli counterpart.
“What happened this afternoon, when three citizens of the country and two direct relatives of these citizens died, is further proof that this is the wrong path. We need to stop these explosions now,” he said.
According to João Gomes Cravinho, “a pause, a ceasefire, a truce—it doesn’t matter,” as it is called, “as long as the result is a stop to bombings that cause civilian casualties.”
The minister announced that he had received instructions from his Israeli counterpart that “ten citizens and members of their families” would leave Gaza this Thursday, while “three minor citizens would not yet leave.”
Israel’s offensive in Gaza continues for 40 days after the Islamist group Hamas, classified as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7 in which soldiers were killed and kidnapped. and civilians, including children.
According to the Israeli government, Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in Israel and took about 220 hostages, four of whom were later released.
The Israeli military responded by bombing and cutting off supplies of water, food, electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip, home to more than two million people.
Gaza Strip authorities say more than 11,000 people have been killed in Israeli bombing, including more than 4,000 children.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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