Department of Foreign Affairs. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Thirty five Filipinos and a Palestinian from the war-torn Gaza Strip are set to arrive in the Philippines on Friday, November 10, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega told INQUIRER.net.
Initially, 40 Filipinos and one Palestinian spouse have successfully exited Gaza. But in a text message, de Vega said that only 36 out of the 41 individuals are set to arrive in the country at around 4:33 p.m. on Friday.
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The other five are not traveling to the Philippines.
“[The] three are family members who wish to stay in Egypt with the Egyptian husband,” said de Vega on Thursday.
READ: Repatriating Filipinos in Gaza would be harder than those in Israel – DFA
“[While ] two are a wife who is 38 weeks pregnant and cannot travel. Her mother will stay with her — both [of them] are Philippine passport holders,” he added.
De Vega earlier said that he is hoping that more individuals would be able to cross the Rafah border into Egypt within the week.