Diplomatic coordination for the release of hostages

The international community is trying to free the people kidnapped by Hamas.

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Bogdan Matei, 24.10.2023, 14:00

The Romanian Foreign Minister, Luminiţa Odobescu, has announced that the heads of diplomacy in the European Union are coordinating „closely” to find solutions for the release of all the hostages taken by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, after the operation launched on October 7 in south Israel. She participated, on Monday, in Luxembourg, at the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council (CAE) and stated, for the Romanian press, that in the hostage file, „the information is extremely sensitive and must be handled with utmost care. It is about peoples lives, that is why we are very cautious, including in terms of public communication, but we are in dialogue with all the authorities of the states in the region and with authorities from other regions, and we are coordinating closely to request and to find solutions for the release of all the hostages, including the one who also has Romanian citizenship”, one of the many Romanian born Israelis and their descendants.

The Palestinian Islamists kidnapped, in total, about 220 people, Israelis, foreigners or people with dual citizenships, whom they transferred to the Gaza Strip and who risk being turned into human shields, in the face of the continuous bombing of the Israeli army. Moreover, in the first days of the war, the Islamists threatened to start killing hostages if the enemy continued to hit civilian targets.

Almost at the same time with the diplomatic meeting in Luxembourg, the US President Joe Biden requested from Washington that Hamas should release all the kidnapped people. “We should have those hostages released, then we can talk”, Biden said. On the other hand, Minister Odobescu recalled that „Romania strongly condemned the atrocious attack on Israel and emphasized its legitimate right to defend itself”.

The authorities in Bucharest remain, however, also concerned about the fate of their fellow citizens in Gaza, where the war is already doubled by a humanitarian crisis. About 260 people with Romanian citizenship and their family members requested evacuation from the Gaza Strip, Luminiţa Odobescu said. She also said that the border check point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was opened recently for the access of trucks carrying humanitarian aid, but it is very important that this humanitarian aid continues. Equally important for us, the Romanian official went on to say, is for those who want to leave the Gaza Strip to be allowed to do that safely. She explained that steps are being taken in this respect, through coordination at the level of the European Union and also with the Israeli and Egyptian authorities.