Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. As Israeli warplanes pummel Gaza to avenge the Hamas attack, Palestinians say the military has largely unleashed its fury on civilians. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
MANILA, Philippines — As many as 136 Filipinos are in the Gaza Strip, but three of them are still in the war-torn Gaza City, said Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega on Wednesday.
“I would like to correct something that we have been saying. We’ve been saying [that] all Filipinos have been evacuated to the south, but there are apparently still three Filipino nationals in Gaza City, including a father and child who are [in the] hospital,” said de Vega in an interview on ANC.
The DFA earlier said that northern Gaza or Gaza City is expected to be the “main site for hostilities” amid the Israel and Hamas war.
De Vega, however, said the Philippine government cannot instruct the remaining Filipinos in Gaza City to move to Southern Gaza because they are in a hospital.
“Let’s hope they will be able to start crossing the border with other Filipinos, hopefully by the weekend,” said de Vega.
The evacuation of Filipinos in the Gaza Strip is still mandatory as the Philippine government has raised alert level 4 in the area.