A total of 48 Filipinos and their Palestinian family members, all residents of the besieged Gaza Strip, arrived in Manila Sunday evening.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Administration Antonio Morales said that out of the 48 individuals, 41 are Filipinos while 7 are Palestinian, who are mostly spouses of the Filipino evacuees.

"They are all permanent residents in the Gaza Strip. They are among the 56 evacuees who are able to cross Egypt on Saturday, November 11. However 14 turned back and returned to the Gaza Strip when 9 Palestinian family members were not allowed by the border guards to enter Egypt," said Usec Morales.

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Morales expressed gratitude to the different embassies who assisted in the repatriation of the Filipinos.

He said that they are still hoping that another batch of Filipinos will arrive in Manila tomorrow.

"We hope another group will be arriving tomorrow. Based on the information we have from our embassy in Amman, there are only 39 Filipinos left in the Gaza Strip."

Usec. Morales said that other Filipinos are still reluctant to leave the area because their Palestinian spouses were not allowed to cross the border in Egypt.

"For the moment, they wanted to leave together with the members of their families, Mahal nila sa buhay hindi nila maiwanan pero hindi po basta basta nakakatawid. Kailangan po 'yung mga kinauukulan, 'yung Egyptian authorities, Israel authorities, sa paglabas at pagpasok sa Gaza Strip.
Pag nasa Egypt na po sila hindi na po mahirap dahil ang ating embahada ay bibigyan naman sila ng kaukulang tulong katulad po nung grupo na nandito ngayon. Napansin niyo tinulungan po natin sila hanggang sa kanilang accommodation ay binibigay," he said.

One family fortunate enough to cross the border all together were Mrs. Gemmacabug-Os El Jamal, her Palestinian husband Dr. Iyad El Jamal and their two children. Gemmacabug has been living in Gaza for 31 years.

"Gusto ko po sana magpasalamat. Maraming, maraming salamat unang una sa President natin atsaka sa ating gobyerno, sa mga nagtatrabaho sa Philippine embassy sa Cairo sa Jordan, lahat ng mga tao na tumulong sa amin sa DSWD. Maraming maraming salamat po. Kundi po dahil sa kanila, nasa Gaza pa rin po kami. Napakahirap dun. Halos hindi po namin malaman, sa araw-araw na gyera dun hindi ko alam kung maliligtas kami," said Mrs. El Jamal.

When asked about the situation on ground, they said that this war is by far the most dangerous, compared to what they witnessed during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, also known as Operation Protective Edge.

"This war the most dangerous, they are killing civilians only civilian. They did not even kill one soldier. For me I'm a doctor, I left my country, I lost my house, I lost my car, I lost everything," said Dr. El Jamal.

Gemmacabug-Os El Jamal is also calling for assistance from the government in terms of passport and permanent residency for their Palestinian spouses.

"Sa ating president sana man lang po kahit mabigyan lang po 'yung mga husband namin, 'yung mga taga Gaza, sana mabigyan sila ng passport o kaya permanent residency. After 2 years, magreretire na rin asawa ko. Balak ko sana mag-ano kami ng business dito kaysa dun kami mamuhay na laging magulo."

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