DFA says 11 Filipinos in Gaza sign up for repatriation

Aerial bombing explosion in Gaza Strip during Cast Lead operation on January 14 2009. It was a three-week armed conflict in the Gaza Strip during the winter of 2008-2009. (STOCK PHOTO) ChameleonsEye / Shutterstock

MANILA -– The Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that 11 Filipinos in Gaza Strip have signed up for repatriation to the Philippines as armed fighting between Palestine and Israel escalates.

Manila raised Crisis Alert Level 3 for Gaza over the weekend and urged the 108 Filipinos there to leave.

“From Gaza, they will be extracted by the United Nations,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose said.

The 11 Filipinos –- composed of three mothers and their children — will be flown back to Manila as soon as they get a clearance to transit Israel on their way to Amman, Jordan where they will take an onward flight to the Philippines.

“There are about 700 foreign nationals being extracted by the United Nations and they will be in groups and these Filipinos will belong to one of the groups,” Jose said, adding their Palestinian husbands will not be joining the evacuation.

This group of Filipinos, he added, are in possession of Philippine passports.

“They will be transiting via Israel and then from Israel to Jordan.

So it would depend on whether or not they will be allowed to enter Israel in the first place before they could transit to Jordan and then from Jordan to the Philippines,” Jose said.