“It looked like a ghost town”, say Brazilians who arrived from Israel

“It looked like a ghost town. The city went into lockdown. For two weeks, nothing has been working, schools, commerce, public sectors, companies.” The story is from miner Renato Abreu, 33 years old, who lived in Ashkelon, a city in the south of Israel, about 10 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.

“We had to follow the safety recommendation of not taking to the streets under any circumstances”, details the project coordinator, who has lived in Israel since 2016, with the exception of the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, when he stayed in Brazil.

Renato is one of the 69 passengers who arrived in Brazil on Saturday morning (21), on the Embraer KC-390 Millennium plane, from the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). It was the seventh flight of Operation Returning in Peace, carried out in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), which took off on Friday night (20) from Tel Aviv.

The aircraft first landed in Recife, on Saturday morning, where two passengers disembarked. The rest went to Galeão Air Base, in Rio de Janeiro, including three Bolivians, a mother and her two minor daughters. Nine pets were also brought from Israel.

Mix of feelings

Renato said he only found out that he would be repatriated on a FAB flight on Friday morning, when he received a call from the Brazilian embassy. He lived with a brother, who went to London on a commercial flight. In the city located next to the Gaza Strip, he left his uncle and cousin.

“The noises are very loud, our street was bombed by four missiles. The South [de Israel] it really became a war zone”, explained the Brazilian who knew Karla Stelzer Mendes, 42 years old, one of the three Brazilians killed in the terrorist attacks by the radical Islamic group Hamas, two weeks ago.

For Renato, who after landing in Rio continued his trip to Belo Horizonte, returning to Brazil is a mix of sensations. “Happy to have dual citizenship and be in Brazil, sad because I had friends who said they wanted to be in my place.”

Life still

Brazilian Pedro Terpins spent more time in Israel than in Brazil. At 23, he landed in Rio de Janeiro after living 18 years in the Middle East. The bartender and political science student lived in Tel Aviv and faced an exceptional routine in recent days.

“I was unemployed, my college stopped, my whole life was at a standstill. I had been alone in my room for two weeks, without going out, without meeting friends, without working”, says Pedro, who has family in São Paulo.

He said he knew at least three of the people who were killed in the October 7 attacks, including 24-year-old Brazilian Bruna Valeanu.

“There are more people who I still don’t know if they are [sequestradas] in Gaza or if they are dead and the bodies have not yet been discovered”, he laments.

More than 1,200 repatriates

So far, the operation to repatriate Brazilians totals seven flights that brought 1,204 passengers and 44 pets. According to the MRE, the three Bolivian citizens were included on the plane “after it was confirmed that Brazilian passengers did not show up”.

Administrator Michele Antunes had lived in Jerusalem for five years and described daily life in the city over the last few days. “We had to go into bunkers several times. But nothing that came close to what happened near Gaza. Thank God, we were a little safer, but it was desperate because there was no one on the streets, everyone was afraid of everything.”

In addition to Bruna, Michele knew Ranani Nidejelski Glazer, aged 24, the third Brazilian killed by Hamas. The woman from Rio Grande do Sul said she doesn’t expect to return to Israel soon. “A feeling of relief, I’ll be able to sleep peacefully,” she said. Michele’s mother stayed in Israel with her husband, but she must also return to Brazil.

It looked like in the pandemic

Engineering student Aline Engelender was welcomed to Rio de Janeiro by a hug from her mother. She spent three months studying in Israel, until the confrontation with Hamas broke out.

“The days were complicated, we were sleeping in a bunker, because you never know when a siren would ring. [de alerta contra foguetes]. We avoided leaving the house, it felt like pandemic times. We weren’t going out for anything, not even to the supermarket”, explained the student who left family and friends in Israel.

“When we met the FAB military at the Israeli airport, and they said ‘now you are in Brazilian care’, it was very emotional”, recalls Aline.

Last flight from Tel Aviv

An FAB KC-30 plane is expected to depart Tel Aviv on Sunday (22), bringing more Brazilians, with arrival scheduled for Monday (23). The MRE’s expectation is that it will be the last flight with repatriates from Israel. “Taking into account current local conditions and the regular operation of Ben Gurion airport, no additional flights for Brazilians in Israel are expected,” informed the ministry.

According to Itamaraty, 14 thousand Brazilians lived in Israel until the end of last year. The MRE maintains the guidance that “all nationals who have airline tickets, or are able to purchase them, board commercial flights from Ben Gurion airport, which continues to operate”.

Brazilians in Gaza

Operation Returning in Peace is ready to repatriate a group of around 30 Brazilians who are in the south of the Gaza Strip. The VC-2 aircraft (Embraer 190), provided by the Presidency of the Republic, is in Cairo, capital of Egypt, where it awaits authorization to rescue Brazilians.

The Brazilian government is making arrangements with Israel, Palestinian authorities and Egypt so that Brazilians can leave the Gaza Strip.

Peace Summit

Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said in Cairo on Saturday that Brazil is ready to support peace efforts in the region. He participated in the Peace Summit, representing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). The meeting organized by Egypt sought a solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has already killed around 4,400 people on the Palestinian side and 1,400 on the Israeli side.

The MRE provides the contact details of the embassy in Tel Aviv (+972 (54)8035858) and the Representative Office in Ramallah, in the West Bank (+972 (59)2055510), for Brazilians in emergency situations. Those on duty in Brasília can be contacted at +55 (61) 98260-0610.