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RESCUING Filipinos from the war-ton Gaza Strip is far from over, a
Department of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday.
The Philippines is still closely monitoring the
situation in the Hamas-governed Gaza, said Esteban Conejos Jr.,
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs.
Hamas has been the target of the Israeli’s
intense military assaults in retaliation to the former’s rocket
attacks on Israel.
“As soon as we see an opening, we’ll be
looking forward to evacuate them [Filipinos],” Conejos said in an
interview with Vice President Noli de Castro over DZMM radio.
Conejos made the statement just after 16
Filipinos evacuated from Gaza arrived in Manila Friday night.
He said that a number of Palestinians went into
the Philippines in the late 80s and early 90s to study and that
probably explains the 20 Filipinas married to Palestinians and
staying in the embattled territory.
Of the 108 Filipinos in Gaza, only 17 of them,
consisting of three Filipina mothers and their children and a nun,
were able to join the Canadian-led evacuation to Amman, Jordan. The
nun was reported to be left under the care of a patriarch in
Jerusalem, while the other 16 took Royal Jordanian Airlines flight
RJ180 to Bangkok.
“They are happy and thankful to be here and
they were fetched by their relatives at the airport,” Conejos
said. “Some of them even told me that they really did not expect
that they really mean much to the Philippine government, considering
that they have been living in Gaza for the past 15 or 20 years.”
Conejos conceded that staging another exit plan
in Gaza remains a tough task.
It actually took three tries before the
evacuation of Filipinos came into force because Israel and Hamas
won’t let its respective guards down and have ignored the repeated
calls of ceasefire from the international community and the United
Nations, he said.
The Philippine government spent $50 per person
for rebooking the flights.
“We have to understand that our movement is
dependent on the discretion of Israeli authorities who gives the
necessary clearances to exit Gaza,” Conejos said.
Israel’s Ambassador to the Philippines Zvi
Vapni earlier told The Manila Times in a phone interview that his
country would only stop the air, naval and land military operations
against Hamas, the de facto government of Gaza, once the group is
completely disarmed.
-- Llanesca T. Panti
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