In a query accessed by Lusa and sent through parliament to Paulo Rangel, socialist deputies highlighted receiving “testimonies and repeated requests” from the Palestinian Refugee Support Group in Portugal concerning the “difficulties faced by various Palestinian families wishing to leave the Gaza Strip with assistance from the Portuguese state.”
The Socialist Party (PS) points to “inaction by national authorities,” noting that there are identified families “living on the brink of survival” whose departure is “systematically refused by Portuguese authorities, in contrast to countries like France, Spain, Italy, and Romania,” which have established humanitarian corridors.
“In view of the deafening silence of the Portuguese Government, answers are imperative. Humanitarian solutions must be provided that ensure, above all, the right to life of children, young people, adults, and the elderly whose only current aspiration is to survive,” they urge.
PS deputies ask the Foreign Minister how the Government “intends to intervene in safeguarding the lives of Palestinian citizens currently trapped in Gaza and facing extreme humanitarian risk.”
“What is the Portuguese Government’s concrete commitment to the international protection of Palestinian families amid the ongoing severe humanitarian crisis?” they question.
In their query, the socialists assert that every day sees a “dramatic deterioration of living conditions in the Gaza Strip,” with successive bombings, hunger, sanitation collapse, and “the absolute despair of a people trapped within.”
“The Socialist Party reaffirms, in this context, its opposition to any retreat from the recognition of the State of Palestine. It does so at a time when apparently insurmountable differences among EU member states have thwarted a common position, precisely because it believes that recognizing the Palestinian State is not a symbolic gesture, but a political and moral imperative and an act of rejecting extremisms, radicalisms, and neutrality in the face of cruelty and barbarity,” they emphasize.
Alongside this political stance, according to the PS, “it is urgent to address the concrete humanitarian needs of families whose survival is jeopardized day after day.”
