Government expects swift deportation of Portuguese nationals detained by Israel

The Minister of the Presidency said this Thursday that the Portuguese State is providing permanent consular support to the Portuguese who were heading to the Gaza Strip and were detained by Israeli forces.

"This [consular] monitoring exists, this monitoring is ongoing. The goal is to maintain this consular monitoring, with a view to the safe repatriation of Portuguese citizens," said António Leitão Amaro, at a press conference following the Council of Ministers.

"I don't want to make any value judgments on this, but they embarked knowing the risks, having been warned of them, and having always been accompanied from a consular perspective by the Government and the Portuguese authorities," the minister added.

"We are facing an exercise of freedom by the people themselves, of their responsibility, and the Portuguese Government has not failed to repeatedly warn of the risks and to contribute with alternatives that could better preserve, perhaps in a different way, the objective under other security conditions," he added.

It should be remembered that, between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the Sumud Global Flotilla, with around 50 vessels, which was heading to the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid, was intercepted by Israeli forces, who detained four Portuguese citizens, including Mariana Mortágua and actress Sofia Aparício.