17 Filipinos reach Gaza-Israel border
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 14:33:00 01/08/2009
Filed Under: Gaza conflict, Evacuation(General), Foreign affairs & international relations
MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE 2) The third attempt to get Filipinos in Gaza out of the war-torn territory was successful, with the 17 who chose to leave reaching the Gaza-Israel border, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.
DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos said the Filipinos were among 250 foreigners who made it out Thursday.
The evacuation convoy of six buses was led by the International Committee of Red Cross.
"They have just arrived at the Erez Crossing," Conejos said in a text message Thursday afternoon.
He said Philippine Ambassador to Israel Petronila Garcia and her embassy team are at the Gaza-Israel border to meet the evacuees and ferry them to the Allenby Crossing at the Israel-Jordan border.
Among the Filipino evacuees are three families and one nun. There were a total of 108 Filipinos in Gaza before hostilities broke out between Israel and Hamas militants.
Two earlier attempts to get the Filipinos out failed because the evacuees’ safety could not be assured in the face of Israeli attacks.
Like the second evacuation attempt, Thursday’s operation had the Canadian embassy coordinating and acting as focal point for embassies in Tel Aviv.
|
