43 who exited Gaza return starting today
The Department of Foreign Affairs expects 43 migrant Filipinos from the battlefront in Gaza to return to the Philippines beginning today.
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo de Vega said the repatriates will arrive in two batches, 20 on Sunday and 23 on either Monday or Tuesday.
De Vega said among them are overseas workers and Filipinos married to Palestinians.
They were granted permission to cross the Rafah border in Egypt. They were part of the 134 Filipinos who got stranded in Gaza when the war broke out between Hamas and Israel.
De Vega said not all Filipinos in Gaza were leaving after some chose to stay with their Palestinian spouses who were not allowed to exit.
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"A lot of Filipinos do not want to leave their Palestinian spouses or parents," he said.
But he assured Filipinos that the government would continue to coordinate with authorities to facilitate their exit from war-torn Gaza.
The government has ordered the mandatory evacuation and repatriation of Filipinos from Gaza after the Israeli military announced a coordinated offensive into Palestinian territory following attacks by the terror group Hamas.
DFA: Contingency in place
De Vega said around eight Lebanon-based Filipinos with their Lebanese spouses are set to arrive in the country next week.
The Philippine embassies in Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon have prepared contingency plans should the conflict between Hamas and Israel expand to other parts of the Middle East, De Vega said.
In a news forum, De Vega said these plans include emergency and crisis response in "volatile areas."
"War is never positive, but we have to take it as welcome or positive news that so far we have not seen an escalation," he said.
The DFA, he added, has received information that the situation in Israel "appears to have started to normalize, particularly in most cities, including Tel Aviv."
Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss previously said that his government is exerting all efforts "to ensure the safety of Filipinos who want to exit the Gaza Strip."
"We will do everything we can to facilitate the safe exit of Filipinos from Gaza," Fluss had said.
