Diplomat Fernando José Caldeira Bastos Neto, who studied law at the UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina), led the mission that rescued 32 Brazilians in the Gaza Strip amid conflict with Israel.

The team that saved the Brazilians – Photo: Fernando José Caldeira/Disclosure/ND

Back in Brazil, Fernando told Agecom at the UFSC (Agency of Communications of the Federal University of Santa Catarina) that before the war between Israel and Hamas, he had already encountered problems in the Middle East.

Among the most striking, he recalled being in Egypt and tasked with rescuing a three-year-old child from prison whose mother had been arrested while she was pregnant for drug trafficking.

On another occasion, he had to negotiate the termination of the contract with two football players, aged 16 and 18, who had been abandoned by the coach of an Egyptian second division team.

What Fernando didn’t anticipate were the biggest problems that would arise in the years to come.

Rescue of Brazilians in Gaza

For 20 days, a five-man delegation under Fernando traveled from Cairo to Ismalia, on the Suez Canal, to check whether the names of Brazilians were on the list of foreigners allowed to leave the Gaza Strip.

“We waited all night because the lists were only published around 2 a.m.,” Fernando told Agecom at UFSC.

On November 9, after negotiations between the countries, Brazil was finally on the list.

By this point, the group had traveled another 200 km to Alarishe, a hostile city in the northern Sinai Peninsula. The journey took about seven hours, including stops at more than 13 checkpoints.

The hotel was already booked because they didn’t know when the border would open and how long they would have to stay there.

“The border is completely walled, it’s like a scene out of dystopian science fiction. On the first day, we waited all day, didn’t eat or drink anything,” the diplomat said in an interview with UFSC.

“After all this waiting, they still haven’t opened the border. We then returned to the hotel in Alarish, where we continued to wait and listen to the news. It seemed like it wouldn’t open for a long time,” Fernando continues in the report.

During this period, Fernando maintained contact with Ramala diplomats and with the Brazilians who were to be rescued.

“While waiting, we communicated with the Brazilians, received audio and video from them. Some were very difficult to hear, as the noise of flying planes and bombs falling nearby could be heard,” he clarified.

After another full day of waiting in an isolated city with no infrastructure, the border finally opened.

Brazilians cross the wall on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip – Photo: Fernando José Caldeira/Disclosure/ND

The borders were open

“It opened up in some amazing way. It opened very early, earlier than the normal arrival time for ambulances. But soon we were able to see the Brazilians inside, and everything went well,” the diplomat explained to UFSC.

As Fernando says, after the opening there were still many issues that needed to be resolved. Jamila Ewaida, a 65-year-old woman who was accompanying her two granddaughters, was not on the list.

But diplomats stuck to the idea of ​​leaving no one behind. “For me, these two girls are symbols of the Brazilian community. They couldn’t be without their grandmother,” Fernando Agecom added.

It was also necessary to provide documents to those who arrived without documents. When everything was decided and everyone entered Egypt, there was a feeling of relief, but also caution.

“The penny doesn’t sink in right away, and you never know what might happen until you get to Brazil, even if you understand that everything is already safe,” the diplomat emphasized in a conversation with the university.

On Sunday, November 12, after days of negotiations, long waits and false alarms, the first secretary of the embassy in Cairo witnessed the Brazilians leaving the Gaza Strip amid the conflict with Israel.

“The mission is accomplished, but the crisis continues and is likely to last,” Fernando José Caldeira Bastos Neto told Agecom this Tuesday (14), his first day of rest in a long time.