Filipinos in Gaza Strip still have food, but are eating less or sharing — DFA exec

By: Charie Abarca - 1 year ago

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos in the besieged Gaza Strip have food to eat, but some have opted to share or consume less amid reports of shortage, said Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega on Wednesday.

“So far, the Filipinos are saying they have food, but they have to share or they have to eat less. They have to reduce the meals they consume, but they are not yet at the stage without food, especially now that more food supplies are coming in,” de Vega said in a mix of English and Filipinos in a press briefing.

READ: Egypt’s border crossing opens to allow aid to trickle into besieged Gaza

According to de Vega, the Department of Foreign Affairs is working with international organizations to ensure that more humanitarian aid will be allowed entry into the Gaza Strip.

“Unfortunately, we will have to tell you, we can’t send money ourselves, and we can’t send goods ourselves because it has to be done through the border,” said the foreign affairs official.

There are 136 Filipinos in the war-torn Gaza Strip. Of this number, only three remain in Gaza City, while the rest have moved to safer areas like Southern Sudan near the Rafah crossing.

The agency earlier told reporters that the northern Gaza or Gaza City is expected to be the “main site for hostilities” amid the Israel and Hamas war.

De Vega said there’s no word yet when the Rafah border crossing near Egypt would be opened, but similar to what he has been pointing out for days now, he stressed that it could be “any day now.”