According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (MNE) João Gomes Cravinho, the plane carrying the first group of Portuguese who wanted to leave Israel, flying from Larnaca (Cyprus), has just arrived at Figo Maduro airfield in Lisbon.
Following statements from the minister who confirmed that four Portuguese descendants were missing in Israel, SIC Notícias confirmed that one of the missing Portuguese-Israelis had been found dead.
The number of missing people now stands at three and the investigation remains the responsibility of the Israeli authorities, given that the victims are Portuguese-Israeli.
Asked about the possibility that the missing people were taken hostage by Hamas, Craviño declined to comment. “I don’t want to speculate on this opportunity,” he said.
The Associated Press (AP) reported Tuesday that a 25-year-old Portuguese woman who was studying in Tel Aviv and went missing after the Hamas attack has been found dead. Rotem Neumann had been missing for at least three days when her body was discovered.
“We express our deepest condolences on the death of [Rotem]”Cravino said.
The young woman of Portuguese nationality was attending the Teva festival, a music event near the Gaza border that was invaded by militants early Saturday morning.
On Tuesday, MNE reported that “the Portuguese repatriation operation is ongoing, with a Portuguese Air Force C-130 transporting around 80 people from Tel Aviv to Larnaca.
This repatriation operation was carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) and the Ministry of National Defense, as the MNE previously explained in a statement indicating that 152 Portuguese were ready to leave Israel.
Minister João Gomes Craviño warned that “difficult operating conditions inside Israel could lead to changes in flight plans.”
According to MNE, there are two thousand Portuguese registered in Israel and “the vast majority of them live there, have dual citizenship and have not expressed interest” in traveling to Portugal.
The Islamic group Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel on Saturday dubbed Al-Aqsa Storm, firing thousands of rockets and invading armed militias by land, sea and air.
In response to the surprise attack, Israel air-bombed several Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in an operation dubbed Operation Iron Swords.
The armed conflict has already resulted in hundreds of deaths on both sides and thousands of injuries.