SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday welcomed 32 nationals that his authorities managed to rescue from the Gaza Strip this week following a month of negotiations, receiving them on the Brasilia Air Base after a virtually day-long flight.
The Brazilians crossed the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday and have been taken to Cairo, the place this morning they boarded an Embraer presidential airplane loaned by Lula and traveled to Brazil by way of Las Palmas, Spain.
Lula greeted passengers with hugs and kisses after their arrival late on Monday night, providing his assist to Brazilians nonetheless in or arriving from the Gaza Strip and condemning the killing of civilians in Gaza.
“I’ve by no means seen such brutal, inhumane violence in opposition to harmless individuals,” Lula mentioned in a brief speech on the tarmac.
The flight was the tenth in an operation launched by the South American nation final month to repatriate residents in Israel, the West Financial institution and the Gaza Strip after a battle broke out within the area final month.
Monday’s flight brings the whole of these rescued to 1,477 individuals, together with three Bolivians, 11 Palestinians and one Jordanian citizen, in addition to 53 pets.
The Gaza Strip has been below bombardment by Israel, which goals to annihilate Hamas, the militant group which runs the Gaza Strip and which attacked Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing round 1,200 individuals.
Gaza medical authorities say greater than 11,000 individuals there have been confirmed killed, with about 40% of them being kids.
Lula echoed earlier criticisms of each Hamas for its assault in opposition to Israel and Israel for its response.
“If Hamas dedicated an act of terrorism and did what it did, the state of Israel can also be committing a number of acts of terrorism by not taking into consideration that kids usually are not at battle, that ladies usually are not at battle,” he mentioned.
(Reporting by Peter Siqueira and Gabriel Araujo; Further reporting by Kylie Madry; Writing by Gabriel Araujo and Brendan O’Boyle; Modifying by Raju Gopalakrishnan)