Plane carrying 30 repatriated citizens from Gaza lands in Brasília

In yet another stage of Brazil’s Operation Returning in Peace, a KC-30 Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira/FAB) aircraft landed at the Brasília Air Base this Saturday (23), at 6:53 AM (Brasília time). The flight bringing 16 Brazilian and binational citizens rescued from Gaza—alongside 14 Palestinian family members—took off at 9:55 PM (local time) on Friday (22) from Cairo, Egypt. Of the 30 repatriates, 14 are children, 11 are women, and five are men.

Another two men who crossed the border on Thursday did not board the FAB plane: a 73-year-old man, for medical reasons, and another who decided not to travel.

Upon getting off the aircraft in Brasília, Laila Shahin, 50, expressed her relief and that of the other repatriates, highlighting the support offered by the Brazilian representation in Ramallah. "Brazil was with us all the time, trying to protect us, to welcome us. They gave us everything they could. Thank God. We can only be grateful. The Ramallah office helped us through everything," she said.

Marwan Saud Abu Sada spoke about the drama the population is facing amidst the war. "The situation is very difficult. There is no safe place in Gaza. Children are always afraid," he said, highlighting his gratitude for having landed in Brazil. "I feel great in Brazil, grateful. Everyone is treating us very well. Thank you very much Brazil and President Lula."

FAB doctor Major Christiane Loureiro highlighted the importance of welcoming the repatriated citizens even before boarding. "We had the opportunity to stay in the same hotel as them, and to offer this welcome to both children and adults. This was very important because we were able to meet certain psychological conditions and health needs that we were able to deal with before the flight. This meant that we were able to avoid complications during the journey," she said.

Since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East, on October 7, this is the 12th repatriation flight coordinated by Brazil’s Federal Government. With these 30 citizens, the operation has reached an impressive number: a total of 1,555 people were rescued, including Brazilian citizens and their relatives in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. The flights also brought 53 pets.

RELIEF – After crossing the border and completing immigration procedures, the group was welcomed by the Brazilian Embassy’s team in Egypt and taken to Cairo—a journey of around six hours. In the Egyptian capital they were accommodated in a hotel and had their first meals away from a war zone area in weeks. The children were enchanted by the Christmas decorations. On Friday the group was taken—in vehicles rented by the embassy—to Cairo airport to board the FAB flight.

Group of repatriated citizens before boarding the FAB plane in Cairo. Photo: GovBR/FAB

ARTICULATION – This is the third specific repatriation operation with Brazilian citizens who were in Gaza—a process that requires complex articulation, since the only border for civilians to leave the war zone is in the south of the enclave, in Rafah, on the Egyptian border. Each list must be approved by authorities from Israel, Egypt and Palestine, in a work carried out by teams of the Brazilian embassies in Tel Aviv and Cairo and by the representation in Ramallah. Adding up these three operations, 141 Brazilian citizens and close relatives have already been rescued from Gaza. According to the Brazilian representation in Ramallah, there are still 23 awaiting approval from authorities to cross the border.

PURIFIERS – The flight that left Brazil to rescue the Brazilian citizens took six tons of humanitarian aid equipment. Altogether, 150 portable water purifiers—equipped with a voltaic solar panel/vehicle inverter/charge controller kit to increase energy autonomy—were taken.
This new Brazilian humanitarian donation, the fourth since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East, adds to international efforts to assist those affected. The humanitarian donation was handed over to the Egyptian Red Crescent, organization responsible for transporting and delivering supplies entering Gaza.

The purifiers’ approximate production capacity per unit is more than 5,000 liters of water a day. In addition to the equipment and the voltaic kit, sufficient replacement items were sent for the equipment to function properly for an additional year.

According to the Ambassador of the Brazilian representation in Ramallah Alessandro Candeas, the lack of drinking water in Gaza is critical, especially in the Northern region—which means that people are increasingly resorting to brackish or polluted sources. In a recent report, the UN warned that the situation could result in the spread of diseases such as diarrhoea and even cholera. “Access to sufficient quantities of clean water is a matter of life and death, and children in Gaza barely have a drop to drink,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

The initiative is coordinated by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (Agência Brasileira de Cooperação/ABC) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministério das Relações Exteriores/MRE), with support from the Ministry of Defense (Ministério da Defesa), the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Ministério da Justiça e da Segurança Pública), the Federal Revenue (Receita Federal), the Brazilian Air Force, the Federal Highway Police (Polícia Rodoviária Federal), the Brazilian Embassy in Cairo, and the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS).

HISTORY – On December 12, an Embraer KC-390 aircraft landed at Al Arish Airport, in Egypt, with 11 tons of non-perishable food.
On October 18, a Brazilian Presidency VC-2 aircraft landed in Egypt with water filtration equipment and health kits. The cargo contained 40 water purifiers with the capacity to treat more than 220 thousand liters a day, and health kits to serve up to 3,000 people over the course of a month—containing medicine and supplies such as anti-inflammatories, analgesics, antibiotics, gloves and syringes. All in all, each kit contained a total 267 kilos of supplies.

On November 2, another Presidency VC-2 landed at Al Arish carrying 1.5 tons of food— rice, sugar, corn products and milk—for the population of Gaza, offered by Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST), in a new humanitarian aid effort.

IMMEDIATE RESPONSE – The world was still assimilating the shock of the attacks committed against Israel on Saturday, October 7, when the Brazilian Government began organizing the withdrawal of Brazilians from the conflict zone.

On the same day as the attacks took place, a crisis-management office was set up—and the embassies of Brazil in Tel Aviv (Israel), Cairo (Egypt) and the Representative Office in Ramallah (Palestine) began the diplomatic operation to identify who and where the Brazilian citizens were in the conflict region. In parallel, FAB was activated to ensure that the aircraft could rescue national citizens as quickly as possible.

Through an online form, around 2,700 people expressed their interest in returning to Brazil from Israel. Those who were unable to find seats on private airline flights began to be served by Operation Returning in Peace, following priority requirements for Brazilians without tickets, non-residents, pregnant women, the elderly, women and children. Experts from the Ministry of Agriculture were involved to ensure the repatriation of domestic animals. The operation also served Brazilians in the West Bank and Gaza.