“After receiving numerous requests for support, members of the Left Bloc, Catarina Martins and Mariana Mortágua, have decided to question the European Commission and the Portuguese Government respectively about the lack of response, particularly the absence of reception programs for Palestinian refugees,” the Left Bloc stated in a communication.
At the EU level, the party criticizes that in light of the “tragedy” in Gaza due to the Israeli offensive, the EU’s response is “insufficient or marked by an unacceptable double standard.”
“The European Union has yet to establish any common protection or reception regime for Palestinian refugees,” merely extending previously granted authorizations without establishing new safe entry routes, evacuation, or relocation paths. Furthermore, “there is no public data on the number of Palestinians effectively taken in by member states since the start of the Israeli offensive,” the party noted.
Catarina Martins, a member of the European Parliament, stated, “This is a totally incomprehensible situation.”
“Civil society organizations are extensively supporting those seeking help to evacuate Gaza, including the removal of minors for urgent health care. We know that Israel disregards international humanitarian law, but that does not erase the responsibilities of European entities and the Government,” she emphasized, as cited in the communication.
Catarina Martins asked the European Commission what measures it is implementing for the coordinated reception of Palestinian refugees, whether the creation of a European temporary protection regime for Palestinian refugees is planned, similar to the one adopted for displaced Ukrainians, and how the lack of a community response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza can be justified.
“There is no longer any doubt that genocide is occurring” in Palestine by Israel, she asserted.
On her part, Mariana Mortágua, the only Left Bloc member in the Portuguese Assembly, argued in her inquiry to the Portuguese Government that the “humanitarian urgency demands an equally swift, fair, and coherent response.”
“There are no first- and second-class lives,” she added, lamenting that Portugal has yet to adopt measures like those created for Ukrainian refugees, to allow immediate regularization, family reunification, and access to fundamental rights.
This position arises at a time when over 55,000 deaths and more than 127,000 injuries have been recorded since the start of the war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas in October 2023, while an estimated 500,000 people are at risk of severe hunger, with dozens of civilians killed or injured while awaiting humanitarian aid in recent weeks.
