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Brazil’s Lula Welcomes Citizens Rescued from Gaza, Condemns ‘Inhumane Violence’ 

Brazilian citizens, who were repatriated from the Gaza Strip, are greeted by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva upon arrival at the Air Force base of Brasilia, Brazil November 13, 2023. (Reuters)
Brazilian citizens, who were repatriated from the Gaza Strip, are greeted by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva upon arrival at the Air Force base of Brasilia, Brazil November 13, 2023. (Reuters)
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Brazil’s Lula Welcomes Citizens Rescued from Gaza, Condemns ‘Inhumane Violence’ 

Brazilian citizens, who were repatriated from the Gaza Strip, are greeted by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva upon arrival at the Air Force base of Brasilia, Brazil November 13, 2023. (Reuters)
Brazilian citizens, who were repatriated from the Gaza Strip, are greeted by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva upon arrival at the Air Force base of Brasilia, Brazil November 13, 2023. (Reuters)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday welcomed 32 nationals that his government managed to rescue from the Gaza Strip this week following a month of negotiations, receiving them at the Brasilia Air Base after a nearly day-long flight.

The Brazilians crossed the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday and were taken to Cairo, where this morning they boarded an Embraer presidential airplane loaned by Lula and traveled to Brazil via Las Palmas, Spain.

Lula greeted passengers with hugs and kisses after their arrival late on Monday evening, offering his support to Brazilians still in or arriving from the Gaza Strip and condemning the killing of civilians in Gaza.

"I have never seen such brutal, inhumane violence against innocent people," Lula said in a short speech on the tarmac.

The flight was the tenth in an operation launched by the South American country last month to repatriate citizens in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after a war broke out in the region last month.

Monday's flight brings the total of those rescued to 1,477 people, including three Bolivians, 11 Palestinians and one Jordanian citizen, as well as 53 pets.

The Gaza Strip has been under bombardment by Israel, which aims to annihilate Hamas, the militant group which runs the Gaza Strip and which attacked Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people.

Gaza medical authorities say more than 11,000 people there have been confirmed killed, with about 40% of them being children.

Lula echoed earlier criticisms of both Hamas for its attack against Israel and Israel for its reaction.

"If Hamas committed an act of terrorism and did what it did, the state of Israel is also committing several acts of terrorism by not taking into account that children are not at war, that women are not at war," he said.

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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye on Thursday insisted the PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm and disband "immediately", a week after a historic call by the Kurdish militant group's jailed founder.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," a Turkish defense ministry source said.

The remarks made clear the demand referred to all manifestations of Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Although the insurgency targeted Türkiye, the PKK's leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq and its fighters are also part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key force in northeastern Syria.

Last week, Ocalan made a historic call urging the PKK to dissolve and his fighters to disarm, with the group on Saturday accepting his call and declaring a ceasefire.

The same day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the promises were not kept, Turkish forces would continue their anti-PKK operations.

"If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... or deceive... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist," he said.

- Resonance in Syria, Iraq -

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out three major military operations in northern Syria targeting PKK militants, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.

Ankara has made clear it wants to see all PKK fighters disarmed wherever they are -- notably those in the US-backed SDF, which it sees as part of the PKK.

The SDF -- the bulk of which is made up of the Kurdish YPG -- spearheaded the fight that ousted ISIS extremists from Syria in 2019, and is seen by much of the West as crucial to preventing an extremist resurgence.

Last week, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi welcomed Ocalan's call for the PKK to lay down its weapons but said it "does not concern our forces" in northeastern Syria.

But Türkiye disagrees.

Since the toppling of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has threatened military action unless YPG militants are expelled, deeming them to be a regional security problem.

"Our fundamental approach is that all terrorist organizations should disarm and be dissolved in Iraq and Syria, whether they are called the PKK, the YPG or the SDF," Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AKP, said on Monday.

Ocalan's call also affects Iraq, with the PKK leadership holed up in the mountainous north where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years.

Turkish forces have also established numerous bases there, souring Ankara's relationship with Baghdad.

"We don't want either the PKK or the Turkish army on our land... Iraq wants everyone to withdraw," Iraq's national security adviser Qassem al-Araji told AFP.

"Turkish forces are (in Iraq) because of the PKK's presence," he said, while pointing out that Türkiye had "said more than once that it has no territorial ambitions in Iraq".