57 Tunisian citizens and their family members (Tunisian and Palestinian spouses and children) living in Gaza Strip in Palestine, on Sunday morning arrived at the Carthage international airport aboard a Tunisair repatriation flight from Cairo international airport in Egypt.
Welcoming them, Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad Mounir Ben Rejiba said that this repatriation flight of 57 Tunisian men and women had been made in response to their request to return to Tunisia, adding that the number of Tunisians living in the Gaza Strip stands at 250.
Besides, he stated that “organising this flight has not been an easy task since it has not taken place at a time of truce,” pointing out that “completing the procedures for this flight has been complex and has required great efforts on the part of the two Tunisian embassies in Ramallah and Cairo.”
The Secretary of State further specified that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after receiving repatriation requests throu
gh its embassy in Palestine, had held daily meetings to prepare for this flight, indicating that the return of these Tunisians had been carried out in several stages.
The first stage, he explained, had been to round them up and take them to the Rafh border crossing (located between the Gaza Strip and Egypt), where they had been picked up by buses hired by the Tunisian embassy in Egypt and transported to Cairo airport, where a Tunisair plane had flown them to Tunis Carthage airport.
Tunisia, added Ben Rejiba, is ready to meet all repatriation requests from Tunisian citizens residing in the Gaza Strip, assuring that all ministries, including the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs, as well as the Tunisian Red Crescent, are taking part in monitoring the conditions of Tunisians returning from the Gaza Strip.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse