Philippines orders mandatory evacuation from Gaza

MANILA, Philippines — The evacuation of Filipinos in Gaza is now mandatory, after the Department of Foreign Affairs raised yesterday Alert Level 4 over the area amid ongoing airstrikes and a deepening crisis.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs wishes to inform the public that, due to the current situation in Gaza, we have placed Gaza under Alert Level 4 (Mandatory Repatriation),” the DFA said in a statement.

The Philippine government has accounted for 131 Filipinos in Gaza. At least 78 of them are now situated near the Rafah border crossing near Egypt.

“All the rest have left northern Gaza or Gaza City, which is expected to be the main site for hostilities,” the DFA said. “The Philippine government continues to work on the repatriation of our nationals and will provide updates on developments.”

DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said 92 Filipinos in Gaza are asking to be repatriated, with eight Filipinos in the first batch expected to come home on Oct. 16.

De Vega said on Thursday that dozens of Filipinos trapped in the Palestinian enclave have “no way in and no way out.”

“What we mean by ‘mandatory’ is that we are not coming to you and pulling you out, but we are telling you to evacuate; and if you get left behind, we can’t stop you, we cannot prevent it,” De Vega said in Filipino on Sunday in an interview over TeleRadyo Serbisyo.

“It is up to you what happens to you, because Israel will be attacking them (Gaza),” he said.

The Philippine government, he said, would not be able to help Filipinos if the situation worsens. ‘We’re ready, but no one can enter or exit Gaza,” he added.

The militant Hamas’ surprise incursion prompted intense aerial bombardment by Israel, a complete siege of the Gaza Strip, and an order to evacuate the northern part of the enclave within 24 hours, which began on Thursday evening, local time.

Israeli forces hammered Gaza and prepared for a ground invasion after the attack by Hamas that triggered the bloodiest war on the country’s territory for decades.

Israel said more than 1,300 citizens and foreigners had been brutally massacred by Hamas, and that roughly 2,500 terrorists entered the country.

Three Filipinos have been killed in Israel as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensifies. The Philippines condemned the killings and other acts of terrorism and violence sparked by Hamas attacks on Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “wipe out” Hamas and said there is “no contradiction” between launching a ground offensive and rescuing hostages.

United Nations humanitarian groups expressed deep concern on Friday for all civilians in the Gaza Strip following Israel’s order for the entire population there to leave the north.

They said Gaza is on the brink of running out of food, water, electricity and critical supplies. No aid can come in from the outside for the 2.3 million residents of the sealed-off enclave.

Some 1.1 million people would be expected to leave northern Gaza with the same order applied to all UN staff and those sheltered in UN facilities, including schools, health centers and clinics.

The UN considers it “impossible” for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences and appeals for the order to be rescinded.

The United Nations Children’s Fund said the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on the planet and people, including hundreds of thousands of children, are finding themselves “with nowhere safe to go.”

According to reports, the current conflict, which is expected to escalate further, has claimed at least 2,400 lives. More than 100 Israelis and foreign nationals, including children and older persons, are being held hostage in Gaza.

Ensure OFWs’ safety

Sen. Imee Marcos said yesterday overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who can go home should be able to go home.

“Give free flights, like what Taiwan and Korea did. Others are still waiting, I think they can’t decide, it’s Filipino habit not to leave, so we call on OFWs not to wait, the situation is looking to get worse,” she said in Filipino in an interview over dzBB.

“This is a really bad situation and it won’t end soon, President (Marcos) is right when he said that nobody really agrees with terrorism. But let’s stop talking about the Palestine-Israel conflict because there are 30,000 Filipino in Israel: caregivers, agricultural students, and others,” the senator, the chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, said.

For their part, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has called on the government to immediately repatriate Filipinos from Gaza and Israel.

TUCP vice president Luis Corral said concerned government agencies must work “triple-time” to operationalize a contingency plan with definitive timelines for the repatriation of Filipinos from Gaza and Israel.

Corral noted that Thailand and Singapore are already extracting their nationals, even working with commercial airlines for chartered flights.

“Let us not only save our kababayans from being caught in the crossfire between the Israeli forces and the Hamas militants, but rescue them from the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza where trapped residents have no more access to water, food, electricity, and medicine,” he said.

“We badly need to ensure that we can get them out of Gaza amid the volatile situation, the unpredictability of the end-games of the warring sides, and the increasing alert level. For God’s sake, let us get them out of harm’s way,” Corral added.

TUCP also hailed the heroic sacrifice of OFW Angelyn Aguirre who refused to abandon her elderly patient in a bomb shelter amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“By making the unconditional choice to stay by her patient’s side instead of saving her own life, our kababayan Angelyn exemplified the best in the Filipino even in the worst of times and amid the ravages of war,” TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said.

TUCP further expressed condolences to the bereaved families of Filipinos who died in the devastating war.

The labor group also asked the DFA to work with the global community for the immediate cessation of the war and toward a diplomatic solution to the conflict. — Cecille Suerte Felipe, Mayen Jaymalin