DFA: Only 46 Filipinos wish to exit Gaza, cross Rafah border so far

Forty-six Filipinos in Gaza have signified that they want to cross the Rafah border to evacuate to Egypt amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas militants, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Sunday.

DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega explained that 115 Filipinos initially wanted to cross the Rafah border, but some of them backed out upon knowing that they could not bring their Palestinian relatives or spouses with them to exit Gaza.

“So far, hindi pa marami ang gustong tumawid. Dati marami. Ngayon kaunti na lang, mga 46 lang ang gustong tumawid,” he said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(So far, not many Filipinos want to cross [the border]. There used to be many. Now only a few want to, about 46 Filipinos.)

The DFA official earlier said that the Philippine government has received a notice from its Israeli counterpart that all 136 Filipinos in Gaza have been given approval or clearance to evacuate out of Gaza.

Of the 136 Filipinos, two have already crossed the border to Egypt.

They are the Filipino doctors who are volunteers for the international humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders.

De Vega said that they expect the number of Filipinos who want to leave Gaza to rise once the first batch of 20 Filipinos get through the Rafah Crossing by Sunday.

“Dadami na ‘yan kapag nakalusot na ang unang groups — dalawang batch — ngayon 20, maaaring bukas 26. After that, merong madagdagan ‘yan kasi matatauhan [sila] dahil mahirap ang buhay sa Gaza, kulang pa ng food and water supply,” he said.

(That will increase when the first two batches of Filipinos cross [the border]. There are 20 of them who will cross today, there might be 26 tomorrow. After that, there might be more because Filipinos will realize that life in Gaza is difficult and there’s food and water shortage.)

On October 15, the DFA placed Gaza City under Alert Level 4 (mandatory repatriation) in preparation for the possible ground offensive of Israeli forces against the Hamas militants there.

Israel is at war with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas which is based in Gaza. Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing many and taking more than 200 hostages back to Gaza. This prompted Israel to go on an offensive against Gaza to flush out the Hamas group. —KG, GMA Integrated News