The Spanish operation to remove Spanish-Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip has concluded. This Thursday, 139 people landed at the Torrejón de Ardoz airport after spending more than a month in the south of the Palestinian enclave waiting to be evacuated.. On Monday the doors of the Rafah crossing opened for the first Spaniards with dual nationality. Three days later they are already in Spain.
85 Spanish-Palestinians and 54 family members have traveled aboard the Airbus 330 of the Air Force. The group is made up of 67 minors, three of them less than one year old, 39 women and 33 men. Although 143 people were evacuated from Gaza, four of them have decided to stay in the Egyptian capital as they have family there.
They were received on the steps of the plane 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. “This was a particularly complex evacuation, because it required authorizations from Israel and Egypt,” said Albares, who wanted to emphasize Qatar's role in the evacuation.. The Foreign Minister has acknowledged that the new arrivals have been able to tell them about the horror they have experienced in Gaza: “The situation there is terrible and we do not forget all the Palestinian civilians who continue to live through the unbearable horror.”
For her part, the Minister of Defense has also stressed “how difficult the evacuation has been due to the circumstances in the area.”. Robles stated that the arrival was “emotional”, especially when several of them “thanked them for what they are doing.”. The minister added that Spain is “committed to just causes” and that the new arrivals “will find here a new homeland in which to live.”
The departure of these Spaniards from Gaza occurred this week after several failed attempts. Initially the evacuation was scheduled for the first days of November, but problems arising from the conflict itself delayed it.. This Monday the Spanish Government managed to agree to the departure of the first group of 40 Spanish-Palestinians with their families, who were joined by another 74 on Tuesday and 29 more on Wednesday.
Although there is still another group of 45 people within the Strip who registered on the lists at the last moment, Foreign Affairs has concluded this first phase of the evacuation. The departure of the rest is being processed and the date on which they could arrive in Spain is still unknown.
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.