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Ambassador of Israel: It was very important to make Romanians in Gaza a priority
The cause of the Romanians who want to leave Gaza was a "priority" for the Israeli authorities, the Israeli ambassador in Bucharest, Reuven Azar, said on Tuesday in a statement to the Romanian press.
"There are thousands of people with dual citizenship and employees of international organizations in the Gaza Strip. We have collaborated with the Egyptian authorities and pleaded for the opening of the border as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the border point from the Gaza Strip is controlled by Hamas and despite the fact that two weeks after the start of the war the Egyptians opened the border and several hundred people could leave daily, three days ago Hamas closed [the border point] because apparently they did not receive approval from the Egyptians to remove their own people in Gaza. This has made it even harder for foreign nationals to leave," the diplomat said.
He said that he personally discussed this issue with high-ranking officials both in Israel and in Romania.
"It was very important for us to make the Romanians a priority, in the context of very good bilateral relations, but unfortunately we could not control the pace [of events]. But we are making efforts, we are coordinating. The Israeli authorities have lists, in collaboration with the Egyptians, we sent information, we received information from the Romanian authorities, the same was received by the Egyptian side, so we hope that all foreign citizens, including the Romanians, will leave as soon as possible," added the diplomat.
The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Tuesday that 103 Romanian citizens and their family members received approval to leave Gaza and go to Egypt. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luminita Odobescu, approximately 260 people, Romanians and their family members, requested evacuation from the Gaza Strip.
Moreover, Israel's ambassador in Bucharest, Reuven Azar, also stated that the Israeli authorities are responsible for all the more than 200 people held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
"Unfortunately, among the more than 240 hostages there are approximately 40 children, about 20 elderly people with an average age of 75, there are also Romanian citizens. The families of the hostages appealed for the support of foreign governments. It is very important to say that, from the Israeli perspective, we are responsible for all the hostages, regardless of what their second citizenship is, in addition to the Israeli one. Of course, we are asking for help from foreign governments to put pressure on them," the diplomat said.
According to the latest information, among the people held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip there are six people with dual citizenship, Romanian and Israeli.