Prime Minister Edi Rama has dismissed rumors that have circulated in recent days about a supposedly secret deal to house 100,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in Albania.
In a post on social media, Rama says this is "absolutely untrue" news, adding that Albania hopes the Palestinian people will be given the opportunity to live in his own country.
The full response of Rame:
I haven't heard anything so fake in a long time - and there has been a lot of Fake News recently! It's absolutely not true.
Full respect and solidarity for the people of Gaza, who have been dehumanized by the vicious Hamas regime and endured a diabolical war after the medieval horrors of October 7. But let me be clear: Albania has not been asked of anyone, nor can we assume any such responsibility.
We are proud of our strong friendships with Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and, of course, the Palestinian people whose state Albania has long known.
But Albania is not in the Middle East itself, but from the heart of Europe, we cannot do more than any other European country on such an issue. However, we wish and pray that the Palestinian people will be given the chance to live in their own state as free people under democratic rule, and that Hamas will never again be able to harm Israel — or, first of all, the Palestinians themselves.