Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu declared on Thursday that Hamas uses citizens as „human shields” or „exchange currency”, adding that it is not possible to negotiate with this group as long as it holds hostages, write Agerpres.

On a visit to Brussels where he participated in the meeting of the leaders of the Party of European Socialists (PES), organized before the European Council, he was asked if he had information about the Romanians in the Gaza Strip.

„There is permanent contact with the crisis cell at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we are trying, as are the other states. It was one of the discussions we had (…) There are more than 3,000 foreign citizens with dual citizenship in the Gaza Strip. You saw the attempt for this humanitarian corridor, so that the population is directed to the south of the Gaza Strip, to be protected as much as possible. We see that things have entered an accelerated dynamic in the area of negotiations as well. But, let’s be fair. The terrorists in the Hamas organization use these people as human shields, as a bargaining chip. One cannot negotiate with Hamas as long as they hold hostages. That is why prime minister Pedro Sanchez intervened here. We believe that negotiations must be conducted with the true representatives of the Palestinians, not with a terrorist organization,” Ciolacu said.