The Spanish-Palestinians who have been evacuated from Gaza since last Monday landed this afternoon at the Torrejón air base (Madrid) on an Air Force plane from Cairo airport.
These are 139 people of the 143 who have been evacuated from the strip in recent days by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The others will remain in the Egyptian capital for family reasons.
Of the 139 people who have arrived in Spain, 67 are minors (three of them are less than one year old) and the rest are adults (39 women and 33 men). Fifty-four are Palestinians and the rest (85) have dual nationality.
On the steps of the plane, an Airbus A330, they were received by the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the Chief of the Defense Staff, Teodoro Esteban López.
The flight left at 04:30 Spanish time from Cairo, where the families, arriving there in recent days from Gaza, were received and directed by employees of the Spanish Embassy to the boarding area, including many children who were running around restlessly. once they got off the bus.
People leaving Gaza have 72 hours to leave Egypt, according to the evacuation agreement, and this responsibility falls on the embassies of the countries involved.
Last Monday, a total of forty Spanish-Palestinian Palestinians or their relatives left Gaza, joined by another 74 on Tuesday and 29 more yesterday, Wednesday, with which the Foreign Ministry concluded this first phase of the evacuation.
The departure of these groups from Gaza occurred with prior authorization from Israel and with the approval of Egypt, since both countries must give their green light to the departure of these people through the Rafah crossing.
Within the strip there is still another group of Hispanic-Palestinians and their direct relatives of about 45 people, who registered on the lists at the last minute, and whose departure is already being processed and will take place at an upcoming date yet to be determined.
Personnel from the 45th group in the Air Force, the air deployment support squadron, the Medical Evacuation Unit and the Combat Command have participated in the operation to bring this 139 people to Spain.
After arriving, Albares acknowledged, in statements to journalists, that the evacuation has been "especially complex" and has described the current situation in Gaza as "terrible", as the evacuees have conveyed to them.
"We do not forget all the Palestinian civilians who continue to live the unbearable horror in Gaza at this time. For this reason, the Government of Spain will not stop calling for a humanitarian ceasefire so that the humanitarian aid that Spain has tripled in in recent weeks to enter Gaza and reach the civilian population," Albares stressed.
For her part, Margarita Robles has valued the work of the Armed Forces to bring this evacuation to a successful conclusion and to "save the people who are being subjected to this absolutely indiscriminate violence." The Defense Minister has not hidden her emotion for to be able to receive these people, many of them minors and some elderly who "come with significant illnesses."
