Israel envoy vows to facilitate safe exit of Filipinos in Gaza

MANILA, Philippines — Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss vowed on Friday that their government will do everything on its part to facilitate the safe exit of Filipinos in Gaza.

Fluss said they will do “their best” to facilitate the exit of Filipinos by “today [November 3] or tomorrow [November 4].”

“We had a phone call yesterday between our ministers and we have different communication lines between Israel and the Philippines, close countries, friendly relations, and we’ve seen also they’ve voted, the Philippines in the United Nations. And we will do everything from our part in order to facilitate the safe exit of Filipinos that are in Gaza,” Fluss said during a press briefing facilitated by the Israeli Embassy in Manila via Zoom.

But Fluss clarified that Israeli authorities will only allow Filipinos to exit Gaza, but not their Palestinian spouses.

“We are only talking about Filipinos. We said that we will facilitate their exit today and tomorrow,” he added.

Earlier, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the government of Israel has pledged to allow Filipinos to leave the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, in a text message to INQUIRER.net, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said they “reaffirm” the President’s announcement that diplomatic representations have been made with the highest Israeli authorities for Filipino nationals in Gaza to be allowed to cross the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

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