Three Filipinos remain in Gaza, says DFA
Three Filipinos remain in Gaza City and have not yet evacuated to the south, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.
“I would like to correct something we’ve been saying. We’ve been saying all Filipinos are evacuated to the south. There are apparently three Filipino nationals in Gaza City, including a father and child who are at the hospital. So that’s a concern,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega told ANC.
“The situation everywhere is critical…Of course, the southern part is where it’s supposed to be safer. But…they’re saying that they are hearing air strikes. It’s not as bad as in Northern Gaza,” he said.
The DFA raised Alert Level 4 on October 15, calling for mandatory repatriation of Filipinos in Gaza City to prepare for possible ground attacks from the Israeli forces against Hamas.
“Of course, it’s some benefit if you can call it that there are no ground assaults yet. Of course, there are air attacks. But the fact that there are no ground assaults would indicate that there is some talk on the ground. And many countries have been talking to other nations as well about either releasing hostages or final arrangements for allowing other Filipinos and other nationals to exit through the Rafah crossing,” De Vega said.
De Vega said there was a possibility that the DFA would raise the alert level in the West Bank, where four out of 122 Filipinos are requesting to be repatriated.
“It’s currently at Alert Level 2 so we might call on voluntary repatriation,” he said.
He said that there are two Filipinos in Israel that are missing and one of them is supposedly being held hostage by Hamas.
According to De Vega, 59 Filipinos have been repatriated from Israel.
“Well, those in Israel are leaving in batches. We’ve had three batches arrive. Totalling 59 persons…Before the end of the month, there will be another batch,” De Vega said.
In a press briefing later in the day, De Vega said the father and child returned to Gaza City from the south to visit his Palestinian father-in-law in the hospital while the third Filipino was a nun who did not want to leave.
He further explained that the government would not sponsor the repatriation trips of Palestinian spouses accompanying Filipino nationals but would issue them a visa.
“With Palestinian spouses. Rest assured though, if they are allowed to Egypt, we will process their visa applications. And, of course, we're going to follow visa rules on the issuance of visas to foreign spouses of Filipino nationals, especially in the case of in the case of Palestinians who have a second category,” De Vega said.
“So we're not going to pay for their tickets. This was the same formula that was used with repatriation from Sudan. There were Filipino women who came home to the Philippines with their husbands, but they paid their own ticket. Remember, we're not sending a repatriation flight. Well, that's not the plan. It’s a purchase of commercial flights,” he said.
“We hope that families will be able to cross as soon as possible for those who remain we will respect the decision but see what we can do to help them given that there's a blockade because we already are with our calls for civilian lives protected and for humanitarian aid to keep coming in,” he added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
