Despite the ongoing war between the Israel Defense Forces and the terror group Hamas, Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss maintained that Tel Aviv remains thriving, and Israel is open to tourists.

“Even if Israel is at war, it is open, and people can travel. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, all other cities are back to normal. But newly hired foreign workers are not allowed,” Fluss said during a recent roundtable discussion with DAILY TRIBUNE.

Fluss said the Philippines has restricted the deployment of new OFWs, but there is no travel ban.

As of last January, the Department of Migrant Workers has repatriated 555 Filipinos from Israel.

“But tourists are allowed to visit,” said Fluss, adding that pilgrimage tours are encouraged in the Lenten season.

He said the pilgrimage tours do not include the border area where the situation is unsafe.

“We are already experiencing tourists coming to Israel. We had more than 700 Filipinos visit Israel for tourism in the last two months. Volunteers from the Philippines are also welcome to help Israel communities affected by the war. We can connect them to some projects like ‘Adopt a community’ to adopt a family member of the hostages,” Fluss said.

Despite the conflict, he said Israeli society remains resilient. International support, however, is important, he added.

“We are not relatively alone in this cynical world. On the other hand, we do have our friends who give us support, and we recognize it. Israel’s economy is fully functioning,” according to the ambassador.

Bring home hostages

Concerning efforts to retrieve the hostages, Fluss said Israel is doing its best to retrieve the bodies of the hostages who were killed by Hamas.

He said that of the 134 hostages currently held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 30 had died, based on intelligence received by the Israeli government.

Fluss said that to date, 19 women are still in captivity, and they are suffering the most harrowing ordeal that a woman can ever imagine.

“We have to continue fighting with the hope of bringing them home. We have to continue to pressure Hamas to release the hostages. We want to retrieve the dead to bury them in the tradition of the Jewish people,” he said.

He maintained that ancillary military supplies from the United States government keep coming, as Israel still has the support of the US.

“The US is still supplying Israel with a lot of shipments, defense weapons, and ammunition. We have a strategic alliance,” he said, adding that they continue to put pressure for sanctions on Iran, the supporter of Hamas.

But a Washington Post report on Wednesday said that tensions were rising between the US and Israel over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to invade Rafah in southern Gaza, which is crowded with nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

Netanyahu said there was “no way” to eliminate Hamas “without a ground incursion,” despite warnings from allies.

The report added that the White House is set to host an Israeli delegation, probably early next week, to discuss US concerns after Netanyahu agreed to send military and humanitarian officials to discuss Rafah.

The Biden administration has said that storming the city would be a mistake, the report stated.