Maria Gabriel: There are two hostages of Bulgarian origin in Gaza – Around the world and in our country

Hamas is holding two hostages of Bulgarian origin. This was announced by Foreign Minister Maria Gabriel at a press conference after she and Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov returned from their visit to Israel.

“We met with families of hostages and it became clear that there are two hostages of Bulgarian origin. This is the information we can share so far, we continue in coordination with the State of Israel and with the parties involved in the negotiations to make sure that lead to the release of the hostages.”

At the moment when there is enough information and it will not endanger the security of the captives, more details will be given, specified the foreign minister.

Efforts are ongoing to prevent a regional escalation of the conflict. The international community, together with Israel, is looking for a solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Bulgaria was the first to evacuate its short-term resident compatriots in Gaza. We received special thanks from the Israeli Foreign Ministry for assistance and coordination,” Maria Gabriel also pointed out.

Bulgaria will continue to help both countries, but categorically expresses its full support to the State of Israel for the fact that it has every right to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks, Nikolay Denkov said for his part.

“30 days ago, Israel was attacked in a brutal way. The atrocities that have been committed are unspeakable, some of them have been recalled to us again today. On the other hand, it should not be allowed to mix the terrorists of Hamas with the Palestinian population, in which the civilians citizens also have equal rights. One of the objectives of today’s meeting was to make sure that the Israeli government takes all measures to clearly separate terrorists from the civilian population, and we received that as an assurance,” the prime minister said.

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