Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary is working for the release of two Hungarian male hostages, in addition to those already let go from the Gaza Strip, once women and children are set free.
At a press conference after a meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday, Minister Szijjártó welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which had afforded the release of hostages and saved lives. Hamas has made it clear that only women and children would be released for now, and three of five abducted Hungarian citizens have been set free accordingly, he said. Minister Szijjártó noted the “multiple times” he had spoken with his Qatar counterpart, who had assured him of his assistance and had provided constant updates on the state of the negotiations. Hungary, he added, was grateful. Though Budapest knew the names of the Hungarian hostages on the list, “we didn’t make this public as doing so would have jeopardised the success of the operation…” he said. Information about the release of hostages was only made public when they were “already safe on Israeli soil,” he added. While there were two men of Hungarian citizenship “definitely” still in the captivity of Hamas, “we don’t know about any of them in terms of their location…” he said.