First plane bringing Brazilians from Israel lands in Brasília
The first rescue aircraft transporting 211 Brazilians from Israel landed in Brasília at 4:10 a.m., on Wednesday (Oct. 11). The non-stop flight from Tel Aviv spanned approximately 14 hours before it reached the Brazilian capital.
Of the total, 107 passengers disembarked in Brasília, while the remaining 104 proceeded to Rio de Janeiro on Brazilian Air Force planes.
The Brazilian government mobilized the repatriation of these individuals in response to the escalating confrontation between Israel and the Hamas group in the Middle East, which began last weekend. Four additional flights are scheduled to follow, culminating on Sunday (15) as part of Operation Returning in Peace, coordinated by the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. In this first phase, the estimate is to remove 900 Brazilians who are in Israel and Palestine.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has compiled data on approximately 2,700 Brazilians eager to depart the region and return to their homeland. Most of these individuals are tourists, visiting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, when on October 7 Hamas, governing the Gaza Strip, launched an attack on Israeli territory. This was followed by a strong military reaction from Israel, which began bombing the Gaza Strip.
So far, the ministry has confirmed the deaths of two Brazilians who were in the region: Ranani Nidejelski Glazer and Bruna Valeanu, both 24. They were victims of the Hamas attack on an electronic music festival taking place in southern Israel, near the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli press, the site alone has seen 260 casualties.
One Brazilian woman remains missing. Karla Stelzer, aged 41, has been a resident of Israel for over a decade and, like Glazer and Valeanu, was attending the Universo Paralello rave.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates that approximately 14,000 Brazilians reside in Israel, with an additional 6,000 in Palestine. Moreover, the region attracts a multitude of Brazilian tourists who visit this region for various purposes, including religious pilgrimages and participation in several events.
