Rockets are fired by Palestinian militants into Israel, in Gaza City October 7, 2023. (REUTERS)
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has confirmed that five Filipinos have remained unaccounted for amid ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
However, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview, that they were still verifying if all five Filipinos were based in southern Israel.
“Kasi kung taga Tel Aviv ‘yan ay maaaring hindi connected sa Hamas ‘yan kasi sa south border pumasok ang Hamas,” said De Vega.
(Because if they are from Tel Aviv, it is possible that it’s not connected to Hamas because Hamas entered from the southern border.)
READ: Israel-Hamas conflict: 2 Filipinos injured
He also said that those unaccounted for were usually caregivers.
“Usually caregivers ‘yan. Ang isa ay lalaki. We’re not giving complete details dahil baka ayaw pa ng family. Ang latest number ay five [Filipinos ang unaccounted] for pero walang casualties so far,” De Vega said.
(They are usually caregivers. One of them is male. We’re not giving complete details because their family might not want it to be publicized yet. The latest number is five Filipinos remain unaccounted for, but there are no casualties so far.)
The Foreign Affairs undersecretary likewise addressed circulating claims on social media that Filipinos were among held hostage by the Hamas group.
“We’d like the public to be careful, maraming lumalabas sa social media. Baka naman hindi itong mga ito Pilipino. We want to give you only correct [information],” De Vega added.
(We’d like the public to be careful because there are many circulating claims on social media. It’s possible that these are not even Filipinos. We want to give you only correct [information])
In a separate interview, DFA Undersecretary De Vega likewise told INQUIRER.net that no requests for repatriation have so far been raised by Filipinos in Israel.
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