MANILA, November 6 ------ The scheduled evacuation of foreigners including 20 Filipinos from Gaza has been pushed back because of attacks along the route to cross into Egypt, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. Speaking to TeleRadyo Serbisyo, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega also said that the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv is trying to convince the Israeli government to allow 38 Palestinians to leave Gaza with their Filipino spouses. "Hindi natuloy yung evacuation ng foreign citizens kahapon dahil may attacks yung Hamas nagsisisihan sila," he said.
De Vega said Israel has accused Hamas of attacking the border while Hamas has been claiming that Israel is attacking convoys headed to the border. "Walang exit kahapon. Kaya yung exit para kahapon, yun yung ngayon may naka-schedule na 20 Filipinos. Mamo-move yan to tomorrow."
The first batch of 46 Filipinos who have decided to leave Gaza may be able to cross into Egypt by Monday and will have around 72 hours to transit and go home to the Philippines. Another 26 will be in a second batch of evacuees. Of a group of 115 that the Philippines wants to repatriate, at least 38 are Palestinian spouses of Filipinos. De Vega said the decision on who is allowed to leave Gaza and cross into Egypt is up to the governments of Israel and Egypt. He said many of the Filipinos have refused to cross and leave their family behind.
Embassy personnel are trying to convince some of the Filipinos to cross to safety while talks are ongoing with the Israeli government to allow the spouses to also leave Gaza. "Mas mabuti na ngayong meron nang permission, tumawid na," De Vega said. "Mababalikan naman nila yung asawa pag tapos na yung gera."
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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