Press Release

Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar met today (Monday, 10 February 2025) with Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem. The meeting began with a lengthy private meeting, followed by an expanded meeting with the bilateral teams. The foreign ministers then issued a joint statement to the media.

FM Sa’ar thanked his counterpart for his country’s support in holding the conference with Israel (Association Meeting), which is expected to take place in Brussels in about two weeks.

FM Sa’ar: “Over the weekend, I met with a woman who had been abducted and returned from captivity. She told me that her Hamas captors told her that they would return to Israel to continue the work they started on October 7. They said they would return to destroy Israel. I make it clear that we are committed to the return of all our hostages and to achieving all the goals of the war.

Hamas has built a kingdom of terror in Gaza, and it wants to continue to survive – we cannot allow this. For over a year, the entire international community has been swept up in Hamas’ false propaganda about the “starvation” in Gaza. But the pictures do not lie. Both the Hamas terrorists and Gaza residents look in perfectly good condition.

In contrast, the surviving Israeli hostages look like Holocaust survivors. They are the only ones who suffered from hunger and inhumane conditions. Hamas committed crimes against humanity. This evil must be erased!”

In his statement to the press, Portuguese FM Rangel stated: “We condemn the inhumane treatment of the Israeli hostages we witnessed, especially last Saturday.”