Lula made this statement this Monday at a Christmas Day welcome dinner for returnees from the Gaza Strip who arrived in the country on Saturday.
“And when there are more people, we will look for those who want to come to Brazil. It is not humanly possible to accept what is happening in Gaza. The death of so many women and children is not possible,” he said.
He denounced that the war in the Middle East “is destroying the entire legacy that the Palestinian people have built.” I have long supported the creation of a Palestinian state. And we continue to fight at the United Nations so that the Palestinian state is created and the people can live in peace,” he emphasized in the transit hotel at the Brasilia air base.
Such a repatriation flight was coordinated by the federal government on the 12th, since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began on October 7th.
In another phase of the so-called Operation Returning in Peace, the Brazilian Air Force's KC-30 aircraft rescued 16 Brazilians and binationalists as well as 14 Palestinian relatives from Gaza. Of the 30 people repatriated, 14 are children, 11 are women and five are men.
Of these, 21 are still in Brasilia and attended lunch this Monday. Another nine went to relatives' homes in Rio de Janeiro and Espiritu Santo.
At the meeting, Lula hugged each of them, along with First Lady Janja Lula da Silva and Secretary of the Presidency Secretariat for Social Communications Paulo Pimenta.
«We will continue to take the best possible care of you. Don't lose hope for peace. I am sure that here in Brazil they will be treated in the friendliest way possible. “You will be treated well by Brazilian health professionals and social workers who will take good care of you,” said the Workers’ Party founder.
He also thanked the diplomatic corps, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brazilian Air Force for the work done to bring 1,555 people and 53 pets to the South American giant as part of Returning in Peace.
He said his government would continue to negotiate with all governments, including Israel's, to release those who want to come.
In the same scenario, Pimenta told the press that Lula will take a few days off starting tomorrow and return in early January, although he will “continue to monitor everything that happens and coordinate actions.”
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