First flight with Brazilians rescued in Israel arrives in Brasília

The first repatriation flight of 211 Brazilians rescued in Israel landed in Brasília in the early hours of this Wednesday (11), at around 4:07 am, after a journey of around 14 hours. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane departed Tel Aviv late on Tuesday afternoon (10), amid warnings of attacks by the Hamas group against the Israeli capital.

The repatriation operation was called “Returning in Peace” and prioritized, in this first group, families without the financial means to buy a plane ticket in commercial aviation, children, the elderly, people with disabilities and the sick. Another five repatriation flights are planned until Sunday (15), with up to 900 people – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, has already received more than 2,700 requests for help to leave Israel.

According to government information, 107 passengers stayed in Brasília and 104 went to Rio de Janeiro on two other FAB planes.

Maria Laura da Rocha, secretary general of Itamaraty, who accompanied the arrival, there are still 2,500 Brazilians in Israel and 50 in the Gaza Strip waiting for rescue by the government. According to her, a crisis office was set up in the government to operationalize the repatriation of citizens.

“Our goal is to bring everyone back. Our concern, at this moment, is with our co-nationals”, he explained at the Brasília air base.

Minister José Múcio Monteiro, of Defense, completed the Itamaraty’s general secretary and stated that the government will rescue all Brazilians who want to return to the country. He stated that “this is the first of many flights”.

“Some people ask how many flights we are going to carry out, are we going to bring all the Brazilians who are in the region. This is the first flight that comes from Tel Aviv, but Itamaraty is already making contact with neighboring countries to see if we can displace other Brazilians in the surrounding area,” he said.

The biggest concern for the government at this moment is with the Brazilians who are in the Gaza Strip, 50, as Maria Laura mentioned previously. For the air brigadier, air lieutenant, Marcelo Damasceno, two airports in Egypt have good possibilities of serving citizens in Gaza and the West Bank.

“[Dependemos da] opening and closing of borders, which happens in situations like this, but, I have no doubt that we closed this first stage on Saturday and we imagine that the second arm of this mission will involve what I consider to be a large number of flights so that we can get these thousands of Brazilians who are waiting our support”, stated the soldier.

A second repatriation flight for Brazilians departed Brasília on Monday afternoon (9), made a stop in Rome and landed in Tel Aviv at around 8 am (Brasília time). The plane, plus a KC-30 (Airbus A330-200) with capacity for 210 passengers, is expected to return to Brazil late in the morning (late afternoon in Israel) bound for Rio de Janeiro. The expectation is that arrival will be in the early hours of Thursday (12).

And a third flight took off this Tuesday (10), also from the federal capital. The planes, the KC-30 model, have capacity for up to 210 passengers. The next three scheduled repatriation flights depart by Saturday (14) and arrive by Sunday (15).

Upon arrival in Brazil, passengers traveling to other cities in the country are transported to their final destination by the airline Azul, which is paying for the tickets after closing a partnership with the Presidency of the Republic.

Since the start of the conflicts, last Saturday (7), more than two thousand people have died in Israel and Gaza. Among them two Brazilians, young Ranani Glazer, 23, and Bruna Valeanu, 24, who were at an electronic music festival that was one of the first places attacked by Hamas during the offensive against Israeli territory. There is still a Brazilian missing.