The evacuated Hungarians arrived safely at Liszt Ferenc International Airport in Budapest.Continue reading
Eight out of fifteen Hungarian citizens have been able to leave the Gaza Strip, while contact with the other seven will continue in order to ensure their evacuation as soon as possible, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday.
The minister noted that the armed conflict in Israel has also put many Hungarians in danger, more than 550 people have been evacuated from the Middle Eastern country, but fifteen people with Hungarian citizenship were stranded in Gaza, just like around 7,000 other foreign nationals.
We have tried to leave no stone unturned to evacuate them, but in recent weeks no one has been able to leave the Gaza Strip at the Rafah crossing point with Egypt,”
he stressed.
The minister revealed that last week he had asked his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, to allow the evacuation of Hungarians towards Egypt, and that he had indicated that they would help with the process if the Gaza authorities allowed the exit of those concerned.
He also pointed out that the government had been notified on Wednesday that the process of securing dual nationals would begin, and that since it was basically the Israeli authorities who approved the list of those leaving, he had immediately called Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
I asked for his help to allow the fifteen Hungarian citizens to leave the Gaza Strip as soon as possible,” he said, adding that they had received the permits in the last few hours.
Péter Szijjártó underlined that these fifteen people basically mean three families and with the addition of five Palestinian relatives, we are talking about twenty people.
“Two of the three families took on the security challenge of having to travel a relatively long distance inside the Gaza Strip to reach the crossing point. One family did not,” he informed. “The two families, with a total of eight Hungarian citizens and two Palestinian family members, successfully crossed the Rafah crossing a few hours ago and are now all on Egyptian territory,” he stressed.
He emphasized that
on the Egyptian side, four staff members of the Embassy of Hungary in Cairo were waiting for them in three minibuses and they are on their way to the capital in complete safety.
The minister added that contact is ongoing with the seven other Hungarians who have permission to leave the country, and if they do take a risk or if the situation develops, they will again consult with the Israeli and Egyptian authorities, and hopefully the foreign ministers of the two countries will help next time as well.
“Once again, I would like to express my thanks to the Egyptian and Israeli Foreign Ministers for their help, after our consultations in person and by telephone, in bringing the Hungarian citizens to us and helping them to leave the Gaza Strip, practically from the very beginning of the evacuation,” he concluded.
Via MTI, Featured image via Wikipedia
