Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met today in Jerusalem with Israeli President Isaac Hertzog.

The Israeli president welcomed the prime minister, describing him as a “dear friend” and emphasized the strategic importance of the Greece -Israel relationship. In his position, Hertzog referred to the critical situation in Gaza, expressing his concern about Israeli and foreign hostages.

For his part, Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed the solidarity of Greece and reiterated the request for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. At the same time, he stressed the need for a new ceasefire in Gaza.

The prime minister also expressed his condolences to the parents of Ionas Karoussi, who was killed in a terrorist attack on Jafa, announcing the Greek government’s intention to create a scholarship program in his honor.

The parents of Jonah were also present at the meeting.

In detail the statements of the Prime Minister and Isaac Herzog:

Isaac Hertzog: Welcome, Mr Prime Minister. You are my dear friend of mine and the state of Israel. I want to welcome you to this very important visit. You come to Israel as we are overwhelmed by anxiety and pain for our hostages in Gaza, dozens of Israeli and non -Israelis, in the dungeons of Gaza, alive and dead in the midst of a barbaric treatment. We receive very worrying reports on their state of health. And, of course, the cruelty, which is Hamas’s way, tortures families and the whole nation.

Therefore, this is the highest priority for our nation. As before, we will discuss here again, how other countries can support and help Israel. It must be clear that this is something completely unacceptable. That is why we are now conducting military operations in order to take back our hostages.

We sincerely hope that today, which is the Eid al-Fitr, the celebration of our Muslim citizens here and the Muslims around the world, is the time to release them all as a sign of the blessing of this celebration, and of course, this is something that is a moral obligation of all of them.

Thank you for supporting us and are on our side in this excellent partnership between Greece and Israel, which is also reflected in another tragedy of the Karoussi family, whose son, Ionas, a wonderful boy, was killed in a horrible terrorist attack on Yaf. Their lives are linked to both Israel and Greece. With Israel for decades, but of course with Greece. I would like to thank you for talking and meeting Jonah’s parents and we are certainly very excited to be here, hoping that his memory will be a blessing to all of us and that terrorism will never dominate the region. Thank you very much.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis: Thank you, Mr. President, for the very warm welcome and for honoring me with your friendship. You know how much value we give to the strategic partnership between Greece and Israel. And, indeed, I come to Israel, once again, in very difficult, in very troubled times.

Let me add my voice to those who seek the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. But let me also add my voice to those who express the sincere hope that as soon as possible there will be a new ceasefire in Gaza and that, at last, the release of hostages will be accompanied by a framework that will allow all of us to think about the next day.

Let me, again, to express my sincere compassion and, on behalf of the whole Greek people, to express my condolences to Jonah’s parents. I had the opportunity to meet them in Athens and it would be very happy to announce a very soon a scholarship program in honor of Iona to bring young students who want to study either in Israel or Greece. I think it’s the least we can do to honor his memory.

Mr President, thank you again for the very warm welcome and look forward to the discussions I will have with you and the prime minister.

Mitsotakis

Mitsotakis