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MANILA — Ten out of 26 Filipinos who remain in Gaza are set to leave the Hamas-run enclave soon and cross into the Egypt border, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said the Filipinos were just waiting for their exit permits to be verified before they could enter Egypt.

"The problem again is they would like to bring their spouses who have not had the Israeli released but it has worked among the previous repatriates," said De Vega on ANC.

• Israel-Hamas truce takes effect

A total of 109 Filipinos in Gaza have returned home from Egypt, he said.

Government is formulating a plan to help Filipinos and their spouses from Gaza resettle in the Philippines, De Vega said.

"Government agencies are already assisting, including the local governments where they are from. We thank the various mayors in different municipalities," he said.

"But a program, well it is still being formulated because...they do intend to return to Gaza once the situation clears," he said.

A 4-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war started this Friday, with hostages set to be released in exchange for prisoners in the first major reprieve in seven weeks of war that claimed thousands of lives.

Starting from 7 a.m. (1 p.m. in Manila), the pause was set to silence guns and stop bombings in a conflict that erupted after Hamas's murderous raids into Israel on October 7.

For Gaza's two million-plus residents, the deal spells a respite from weeks of sustained Israeli bombardment.

The territory's Hamas government says the war has so far killed about 15,000 people and displaced countless more.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse