Council of Ministers of BiH Approves Entry of Family Members of BiH Citizens Evacuated from Gaza

Thirty Palestinian citizens who are close family members of BiH citizens evacuated from Gaza will be allowed to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina. After not voting yesterday, ministers from Republika Srpska in the Council of Ministers of BiH today supported the proposal of the Minister of Security of BiH, Nenad Nešić, to allow Palestinians who are close family members of BiH citizens to enter BiH under special conditions.

“Relatives are considered spouses, children, including adult children over eighteen years of age, and parents of BiH citizens, provided they have Palestinian citizenship and do not have BiH citizenship,” stated the decision of the Council of Ministers of BiH proposed by the state Minister of Security of BiH, Nenad Nešić.

Attached to this decision is a list of 30 Palestinians who were evacuated from Gaza in the middle of this week, along with BiH citizens. Among these thirty individuals are 17 children whose parents or close relatives are BiH citizens. All of them have been in Cairo for days, where they were accommodated after managing to cross from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing with the help of Qatari authorities.

Let us recall, the Council of Ministers of BiH held a telephone session on Saturday where the proposed decision concerning Palestinian citizens was to be considered. Although the proposer was Minister Nenad Nešić from RS, the Deputy Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Staša Košarac, decided not to express his opinion. As the ministers from RS did not participate in the vote, it was concluded that there was no quorum for the session. After the decision was effectively blocked, Minister Staša Košarac changed his mind, and a new session of the Council of Ministers of BiH was scheduled for Sunday morning, where the decision to accept 30 Palestinian citizens evacuated from Gaza along with BiH citizens was unanimously adopted.

Forty days after the start of the war in Gaza, BiH authorities, with the help of Qatar, managed to evacuate 41 people from Gaza. These are BiH citizens and their relatives. All of them were transferred to Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, where they are currently located. Initially, it was planned for only 17 people with BiH citizenship to be transferred to BiH, but this decision allows all evacuated individuals who are close relatives to enter BiH.

In the coming days, BiH citizens and their relatives are expected to be transferred by plane from Egypt to Sarajevo, reports Istraga.