(GAZA) — Belgium is not planning new evacuation flights for roughly 1,400 Gaza-based people holding Belgian visas, and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said leaving Gaza is “not a realistic option” at present.

Belgian authorities have already carried out several evacuation flights during earlier phases of the crisis. The government’s current position is that no further evacuations are underway and there is no concrete prospect of a new state-led operation.

That leaves about 1,400 Gaza-based people holding Belgian visas waiting on a list that Belgium continues to maintain for possible departure. The group includes Belgians and foreign nationals with a visa for Belgium.

Prévot’s statement marks the clearest recent indication that Brussels does not see a near-term path for another organized airlift. His position, as presented by Belgian authorities, is that an evacuation from Gaza cannot currently be carried out in realistic terms.

Belgium has not dismantled the framework it used earlier in the crisis. Federal ombudsman guidance says the country keeps an evacuation list for people in Gaza and would move to evacuate them as soon as it becomes possible to leave the territory.

That list covers two categories identified by Belgian authorities: Belgian nationals and foreign nationals who hold a visa for Belgium. The policy leaves their eligibility intact while putting any actual departure on hold until conditions change.

Belgian officials have already shown they were prepared to organize flights when access and logistics allowed it. Several evacuation flights took place in earlier stages of the war, giving some citizens and visa-holders a route out that is not available now.

The current message is narrower and more restrained. Officials are not presenting a timetable, a new operation, or any active airlift plan.

Prévot’s assessment, that evacuation is “not a realistic option”, centers the present obstacle on feasibility rather than eligibility. People on Belgium’s list remain identified for evacuation, but only if departure from Gaza again becomes possible.

The federal ombudsman guidance mirrors that position. It says Belgium maintains the evacuation list and would act as soon as it becomes possible to leave Gaza.

That formulation keeps the government’s commitment in place without promising transport in the current conditions. It also draws a distinction between being recognized for evacuation and having a viable route to carry it out.

Belgium’s stance comes after earlier phases in which European governments, including Brussels, mounted operations for citizens and some eligible non-citizens when crossings and onward transport could be arranged. Belgian authorities now say those conditions do not exist in a form that supports a new mission.

No concrete prospect of a new government-led operation has been presented. Officials have also not announced any further evacuations underway.

The number involved, about 1,400, gives a sense of the scale facing Belgian authorities if movement out of Gaza becomes possible again. The figure covers people already linked to Belgium through nationality or a valid visa, not a newly identified group.

That group includes families and individuals whose connection to Belgium differs in legal status but falls within the same evacuation framework described by the ombudsman. Some are Belgians. Others are foreign nationals who hold a Belgian visa.

Belgium’s earlier evacuation flights remain the main precedent for what a future operation would look like. Those missions showed that departures depended not simply on a government decision in Brussels, but on whether people could physically leave Gaza and be transferred onward.

Prévot’s comments suggest Belgian authorities see that threshold as unmet. The phrase not planning new evacuation flights reflects a government position anchored in present conditions, not a pledge to close the list or cancel eligibility.

That distinction matters for those already registered. Belgium still keeps an evacuation list for people in Gaza, and the ombudsman guidance says evacuation would follow once exit becomes possible.

Officials have not pointed to a near-term mechanism that would make that happen. Instead, the government’s position ties any future movement to a change in the security and access situation.

Belgian authorities therefore appear to be holding two positions at once: they are not launching fresh flights now, and they are preserving an administrative list for a future moment when movement becomes feasible. The policy offers recognition without immediate departure.

Earlier evacuation efforts provide the only clear template in Belgium’s own record. Several flights were conducted in prior phases of the crisis, but that history has not translated into a new operation under current conditions.

People covered by the Belgian list remain in a waiting category shaped by events on the ground rather than a set departure date. The government has not announced a fresh air bridge, and Prévot has publicly framed evacuation from Gaza as unrealistic for now.

The next shift would depend on whether conditions change enough to allow departures from Gaza. If that happens, Belgium’s existing list, which includes Belgians and foreign nationals with a visa for Belgium, is already in place for the moment officials judge evacuation possible.