Poles among those held hostage by Hamas: FM
Poland’s foreign minister has said that Polish citizens are among those being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau (centre) attends a high-level conference on humanitarian aid for the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip; in Paris, on Thursday, November 9, 2023. X/Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Zbigniew Rau made the statement at a media briefing in Paris on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The Polish foreign minister visited the French capital for a high-level conference on humanitarian aid for the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.
Rau told the media: „There are Poles among the hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”
He declined to give details, such as the number of Polish hostages, „in the best interests of these persons” and due to Poland’s ongoing „diplomatic efforts” to secure their release.
Asked about the evacuation of Polish citizens from war-torn Gaza, amid Israel’s air and ground offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Rau said „this must be secured in a discreet way.”
Poland’s foreign minister said, as cited by the PAP news agency: „We need to be highly discreet in our efforts to carry out the evacuation” of Polish citizens from the Gaza Strip.
Twenty-nine Polish citizens are currently in Gaza, according to the foreign ministry in Warsaw.
Rau told reporters that the Paris conference, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, focused on ensuring the security of civilians caught up in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Other aims included stepping up efforts to secure the release of hostages, safeguarding humanitarian aid corridors to the Gaza Strip, and solving the conflict itself, the Polish foreign minister said.
Poland’s top diplomat stated that, thanks to diplomatic efforts, a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was „closer than before.” He added: „Future will tell whether it will happen.”
Rau told reporters that „the two-state solution of Israel and Palestine” was necessary to achieve peace in the Middle East, and that Arab countries did not contest this view at the Paris conference.
Poland doubles aid for Gaza
He also announced that Poland had doubled its aid for the Gaza Strip since October 12, both delivered directly and through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
The war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, when the Palestinian Islamist group launched attacks from the Gaza Strip, killing 1,400 people and kidnapping more than 200 as hostages, the British broadcaster BBC reported.
Israel has since been bombing Gaza in retaliation, killing over 10,800 people, including more than 4,400 children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Israel also mounted a ground operation in Gaza, described by the BBC as „a real gun battle,” including fighting on Thursday between Israel and Hamas close to the Al Quds hospital in Gaza City, according to news outlets.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, BBC
