President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said he is hopeful that Filipinos who are trying to leave war-torn Gaza will be able to do so by Saturday, as the Israeli government has promised safe passage for civilians.
The Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines, Ilan Fluss, successfully contacted both the foreign minister of Israel and the Philippine Ambassador Junie Laylo, the President said.
“So, they promised us that the Filipinos will be able to go out today or tomorrow. That is what they promised us. Saturday at the latest,” the President said in Filipino.
The Philippine government is ready to bring the Filipinos home, with buses and embassy personnel on standby in Cairo.
The Rafah Crossing is the only path out of the Gaza strip into Egypt.
President Marcos also offered assistance to Thais, Vietnamese, and other Southeast Asian nationals stranded at the crossing.
“It looks like we are the ones there first because the presence of Filipinos in the area is much higher than the others,” President Marcos said.
The President noted that the situation was complicated by the fact that Palestinian husbands of some of the Filipinos were not allowed to leave Gaza.
“Of course, they don’t want to leave their husbands and children. So, these are the problems that we are facing,” he said.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), and the Philippine embassy have announced the repatriation of a few batches of Filipinos from Israel, but so far, only two Filipino doctors have been able to leave Gaza.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it was confident, too, that the remaining Filipinos stranded in Gaza would be allowed to cross at Rafah and enter Egypt “within a few days.”
“I cannot tell when, but we are hopeful and confident it will be within a few days. It will not take two weeks or 10 days for our countrymen to cross the border,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said, in an interview with GMA News.
De Vega said he believes Filipinos may be given priority in crossing the border because of the country’s close ties with Egypt and Israel.
“We are having discussions with them through diplomatic representations,” the DFA official said.
On Thursday, two of the 136 Filipinos in Gaza successfully crossed into Egypt. The two Filipino doctors are volunteers for the international humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders. The DFA said they are now safe in Egypt.
De Vega said about 7,000 foreign nationals are allowed to use Rafah Crossing to exit Gaza but only 500 to 600 are allowed to cross the border daily to maintain order. He said the exodus could be completed in two weeks.
De Vega said the DFA also included the names of 19 Filipinos who refused to be repatriated from Gaza—as well as their Palestinian spouses—in the list that it submitted to the authorities.
Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7 have killed at least 8,796 Palestinians, including 3,648 children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Israel launched the strikes after Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 300 soldiers and 1,100 civilians, and taking more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday met with Philippine Ambassador to Israel Junie Laylo and other foreign diplomats to discuss its current war with Hamas, which has already claimed the lives of thousands of civilians on both sides.
In a post on X, Herzog said he sat down with Laylo and envoys of Thailand, Tanzania, and Nepal, which are among the countries whose citizens were killed when Hamas launched a surprise attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7.
“I share in their deep sorrow and ask [that] they convey to their people our deep pain and our concern for the hostages,” Herzog added.
The Israeli leader assured the diplomats that the Israeli government will do everything to also rescue the foreign hostages taken by the terrorists.
Herzog held a meeting with the envoys as he learned that among those murdered and taken hostage by Hamas, were foreign workers who came to Israel as agricultural workers.
Some of the victims were also exchange students as well as workers providing care for the Israeli elderly and those with special needs, he said.
Two Filipinos were assumed to be taken hostage by Hamas while four were confirmed killed.
Thailand reported that 20 of its citizens were killed while 14 were taken captive. Nepal said 10 of its nationals died.
“They are all victims of Hamas’ murderous terror campaign that does not distinguish between race or religion,” he added.
Herzog also said he was comforted to hear that many nationals of the mentioned countries in Israel, particularly those caring for the elderly and working in the fields and orchards, insisted on staying there.
Earlier, the Israeli government, through its embassy in Manila, honored several overseas Filipino workers who stayed with their elderly employers and risked their lives during Hamas’ attack.
Some of them survived, but some were also killed, including one of the four Filipinos who were confirmed dead during the assault.
Meanwhile, the DFA said it is considering raising its alert level over northern Israel as early as next week if the tension there escalates.
De Vega on Friday said they are still waiting for the recommendation from Laylo.
The DFA earlier said that it is looking into raising the alert level in some areas in Israel from Alert Level 2 to Alert 3, which involves voluntary repatriation.
Nonetheless, De Vega clarified that there is no travel ban to Israel for Filipinos.
Israel on Friday began sending thousands of Palestinian workers back to Gaza who had been stranded inside Israel since its war with Hamas erupted, a Gaza border official said.
“Thousands of workers who were blocked in Israel since Oct. 7 have been brought back,” Hisham Adwan, head of Gaza’s crossing authority, said.
Israel said late on Thursday it would start deporting the workers back to Gaza.
“Israel is severing all contact with Gaza. There will be no more Palestinian workers from Gaza,” the Israeli security cabinet said in a statement.
“Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza,” it added, without specifying how many people would be sent back.
Before the war started, some 18,500 Gazans were holding Israeli work permits, according to figures provided by COGAT, the Israeli defense body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs.
Israeli ground troops encircled Gaza City on Friday in their war against Hamas, as top US diplomat Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for a trip focused on “concrete steps” to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties.
Ahead of Blinken’s arrival, Israel’s military said on Thursday it had “completed the encirclement” of the narrow Palestinian territory’s largest city—signaling a new phase in the nearly month-long conflict.
Fighting was triggered by Hamas’ bloody raids on Oct.7 that Israeli officials say killed more than 1,400 people.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 9,000 people have died in Israeli bombardments, mostly women and children.
Fresh Israeli strikes rocked the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, and the Gaza health ministry reported at least 15 deaths in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood and seven in Jabalia refugee camp. With AFP