The President of Portugal confirmed on Thursday that “our ambassador together with the consul will visit the Portuguese nationals detained by Israel tomorrow morning,” following the interception of the humanitarian flotilla en route to Gaza.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa explained that the visit will utilize a gap “between the holiday and the religious period” in the country, currently observing Yom Kippur, which “will allow them to have contact with the detainees and further understand exactly what is happening in terms of administrative identification.”
The Portuguese head of state disclosed that “a choice will be presented to the detainees.”
“They can either sign a document stating their agreement to leave the territory of Israel, in which case Israel will cover the expenses of this departure as soon as possible,” he stated, “or they may choose to remain in Israeli territory, initiating a process involving the intervention of a judge to determine the terms of their departure – and in this case, the State of Israel would not cover these exits.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also admitted that he is unaware of the current health status of the Portuguese nationals and that there is currently no forecast regarding when the activists will leave Israel.
