“Tonight, we received, at Lisbon airport, Diogo Chaves, Mariana Mortágua, Miguel Duarte, and Sofia Aparício, who were on board the Global Sumud Flotilla and were attacked in international waters and taken to an Israeli prison,” read a post on the Instagram pages of the Humanitarian Flotilla and Palestine in Portuguese.
The reception at Lisbon Airport is scheduled for 10:30 p.m.
RTP has reported that the four Portuguese have already left Tel Aviv airport and will make a stopover in Madrid before landing in Lisbon.
The flight arrives at 8:20 p.m. in Madrid, where it has a stopover, and lands in Lisbon around 10:30 p.m.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already announced that the Portuguese who participated in the Global Sumud Flotilla were repatriated and would arrive in Portugal late tonight, without specifying the exact time.
Bloco de Esquerda coordinator Mariana Mortágua, actress Sofia Aparício, and activists Miguel Duarte and Diogo Chaves have been detained since Wednesday night, when Israeli forces intercepted the approximately 50 vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which aimed to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
According to the ministry led by Paulo Rangel, Portugal’s ambassador in Tel Aviv, Helena Paiva, visited the Ketsiot detention center today to “ensure the proper development of the repatriation process.”
The Portuguese citizens, the MFA added in a statement, will be accompanied by a diplomat throughout the journey.
The Portuguese citizens, along with about 450 activists of various nationalities, were taken by Israeli authorities to a detention center in the Negev desert, southern Israel.
The Portuguese ambassador in Tel Aviv, Helena Paiva, visited the Portuguese nationals on Friday, indicating that they were “in good health” but had reported “several complaints,” which prompted an immediate protest by the diplomat to the Israeli authorities and a protest from the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, to the Israeli ambassador in Lisbon, Oren Rozenblat.
The MFA reported that the activists “were not subjected to physical violence,” but to “difficult and harsh conditions on arrival at the port of Ashdod [where they were taken after the Israeli intervention in high seas] and in the detention center,” in addition to being “quite a long time” without water and food.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said he expects Portuguese citizens to be able to return to the country “without any incident,” considering that the message of the humanitarian flotilla was transmitted.
The Israeli government has repeatedly condemned initiatives like the flotilla, accusing the activists of being supported by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Israel’s National Security Minister, far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, visited the activists at the port of Ashdod, called them “terrorists” and “supporters of terrorism,” urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep them “for several months” in prison, instead of proceeding with their deportation.
The war declared by Israel on October 7, 2023, in Gaza to “eradicate” the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas — hours after an attack on Israeli territory with about 1,200 dead and 251 hostages — has so far resulted in more than 66,000 deaths and at least 170,000 injuries, mostly civilians, according to updated figures from local authorities, which the UN considers reliable.
[News updated at 4:09 p.m.]
