MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs on Thursday placed Gaza under crisis alert level 3 which calls for voluntary repatriation, as heavy Israeli bombardments continued to hit the Palestinian enclave.

DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega confirmed the development to ABS-CBN News.

He said only Gaza was under Alert 3, while Israel remained under Alert 2, which restricts non-essential movement for Filipinos and suspends deployment of OFWs.

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There are some 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, and 137 others in Gaza, from which the Palestinian militant group Hamas fired thousands of rockets in a surprise attack on Saturday.

In response, Israel pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, a densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people.

At least 2 Filipinos have died in the conflict, authorities said.

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Several Filipinos in Gaza have requested for repatriation, but Philippine authorities said that mounting evacuation flights remained a challenge after Israel pounded Hamas.

"Yung mga tiga-Gaza, may blockade kaya gumagawa pa tayo ngayon ng diplomatic contact para payagan silang may 70 na gustong Filipino [umuwi]," De Vega said.

"Ang advice namin ay sumunod sa mga naririnig na 'wag pumunta sa mga Hamas na infra, na gusali ng Hamas dahil yun titirahin ng Israel," he said.

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Israeli forces said 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the onslaught -- the worst in the country's history.

In Gaza, officials reported more than 1,000 people have been killed in Israel's sustained campaign of air and artillery strikes.

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By late Wednesday, the number of displaced people in Gaza had risen to around 338,000, the United Nations said.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA voiced alarm at the significant destruction of civilian infrastructure damaged in the shelling.

Among other things, it said sewage facilities serving more than a million people had been hit by air strikes, leaving solid waste accumulating in the streets, posing a health threat.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse

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