There are two people of Bulgarian origin held hostages by Hamas, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel has reported. The minister returned from a visit to Israel together with Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov. "This is the information we can share. In coordination with the State of Israel and the negotiating parties we do whatever is necessary to get the hostages released," Gabriel said. She announced that during the visit they also held meetings with relatives of hostages and that is how the information about the two civilian hostages of Bulgarian origin became known.

If the hostages are of Bulgarian origin and do not yet have Bulgarian documents, I think that our first task is to make them Bulgarian citizens. Moreover, practice shows that it is easier to release those who have dual citizenship, Vice President Iliana Iotova said after learning the news.