Bolivia continues with consular assistance and protection actions for Bolivians in Israel and Palestine

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia continues with the work of consular assistance and protection for Bolivians who are in Israel and Palestine, taking into account the continuous attacks in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army.

Since October 2023, the Bolivian Foreign Ministry, together with the Network of Consular Directorates of MERCOSUR, other countries and Boliviana de Aviación (BoA), carried out the necessary actions that allowed us to assist the departure of 42 nationals who managed to leave the danger zone through various means. means of transport.

To date, the Diplomatic representations in Egypt and the Netherlands continue to respond to calls, messages, emails and other means to nationals who reported their presence in the area, who have been asked to share their documents, in order to manage their departure.

In the case of the Gaza Strip, the Bolivian Embassy in Egypt initially identified 22 people who required assistance, for which procedures were initiated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt in coordination with Israel, to allow the exit through the Rafah pass. To date, there are 11 compatriots in Gaza.

Official communications have also been made to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Embassy of the State of Palestine, the Embassy of Israel in Egypt, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel warning about the presence of Bolivians in Gaza, so that an exit through a humanitarian corridor on the Gaza border with Egypt is considered.

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It is important to point out that the procedure regulated by the competent authorities establishes that lists of all nationals, dependents and dual nationals must be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, which through a National Committee analyzes all departures from Gaza. In the case of Bolivia, the country’s Embassy in Egypt has been in contact with the Egyptian authorities since October 2023, following up on the applications submitted.

Once the competent authorities of the region approve the departure of said compatriots, they must be evacuated to Egypt. For this purpose, a socioeconomic report has been sent, requesting a budget for repatriation, which has already been approved, in addition to an additional remittance received at the Bolivian Embassy in Egypt.

The most recent effort carried out by the Bolivian Foreign Ministry was a videoconference with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, in order to reiterate the need to have a response to the requests for the departure of compatriots who are in Gaza.

It is worth mentioning that Bolivia is not the only country that has not received authorization to leave its compatriots and several countries are waiting for the same. Egypt recently reported that it has 15,000 people seeking to leave Gaza, since unfortunately Israel does not provide cooperation.