Philippines orders mandatory evacuation in Gaza Strip

Department of Foreign Affairs building INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Amid Israel’s air attacks on Gaza Strip, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has implemented a  mandatory evacuation for Filipinos.

“In view of the threats to security posed by the Israel-Hamas conflict to Filipinos in the Gaza Strip, the Department of Foreign Affairs has raised Alert Level 4 (Mandatory Repatriation) in Gaza,” DFA said in statement on Saturday.

Meanwhile, alert level 2 (restriction phase) was  raised in areas in Israel within 15 kilometers from the border with Gaza, while alert level 1 (precautionary phase) remains raised in the West Bank and in the rest of Israel.

The agency said the Philippine embassies in Cairo, Tel Aviv, and Amman are ready to repatriate Filipinos from Gaza in coordination with concerned authorities of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the United Nations and other international organizations operating in Gaza.

It said the DFA continues to closely monitor developments and called for the cessation of hostilities to prevent further loss of innocent lives.

The department said there were an estimated 109 Filipinos living in Gaza when the deadliest border flare-up since 2012 began nearly two weeks ago.

The fighting followed last month’s kidnap and murder of three young Israelis in the occupied West Bank and the brutal revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish extremists.

The Philippine government also ordered its more than 36,000 nationals working in Israel not to venture within 15 kilometers (nine miles) of the Gaza border.

About 10 million Filipinos live and work abroad, many of the throughout the Middle East, having left their homeland in search of better-paying jobs.

Some 318 Palestinians have died in the latest conflict, the deadliest in Gaza since 2009.

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