Filipinos yet to be repatriated from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip are now down to 26, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed over the weekend.
In a message to this paper, DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo de Vega said that of the initial 39 Filipinos who remained in Gaza as of last week, the current number has dropped to 26.
"Only 26 are left. There are 13 additional who have also returned home," De Vega said. "Of the 26, there are an additional six who plan to cross," he added.
Last Wednesday, 13 Filipino repatriates from the Gaza Strip arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal via Qatar Airways. De Vega said six were accompanied by their foreign spouses.
De Vega welcomed the group when they reached Cairo after being allowed to cross the Rafah border crossing, Gaza's sole link to Egypt.
The 13 Filipinos were in the fourth batch of repatriates from the Palestinian enclave, being targeted by the Israel Defense Force to rout the Hamas extremist group responsible for the 7 October attack that left over a thousand Israeli civilians dead.
The latest batch brought the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Gaza to 102.
The DFA, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development have been providing monetary and other aid to the repatriates.
Many other Filipinos had been repatriated from Israel, and some from the West Bank, as well as Lebanon.
Lucina Alqadri, a Filipino evacuee from Gaza, said in a television interview on Friday that they did not receive a warning from Israel before the strike as they had limited signal.
There were a total of 137 Filipinos in the Gaza Strip when war broke out on 7 October.
