Group of repatriates from Gaza Strip lands in Campinas

A group of 21 people repatriated from the Gaza Strip in Palestine landed late Tuesday morning (Dec. 26) at São Paulo’s Viracopos International Airport in Campinas. They came on a Brazilian Air Force aircraft from Brasília, where they had been since Saturday (23), when they arrived from Cairo, Egypt.

This is the third group of people who were in the Gaza Strip and were repatriated by the federal government’s operation Voltando em Paz (“Returning in Peace”). The flight left Brasília at 9:15 am and arrived in Viracopos at 11:25 am. 

The operation has brought to Brazil over 1,500 people rescued on 13 flights with passengers from both Israel and Palestine.

Brazil’s diplomatic representation in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, in the West Bank, estimates there are still 23 people waiting for permission from the authorities to cross the border at Rafah, the frontier between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. 

During a lunch with the repatriates last Monday (25) in Brasília, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva assured that the Ministry of Foreign Relations will continue to work to repatriate Brazilians and their relatives who are still in Gaza.