26 Filipinos have departed Israel, says PH embassy

Twenty-six Filipinos have taken up the Philippine embassy to Israel's offer of voluntary repatriation and are on their way back to the Philippines, the embassy said on Sunday.

In a social media post on Sunday, the embassy said that 26 Filipinos have left Israel through the voluntary repatriation program.

"26 nating kababayan ang nakaalis na sa pamamagitan ng Voluntary Repatriation program ng Embahada," the embassy said.

"Sinamahan sila sa Allenby Border Crossing ni Ambassador Aileen Mendiola at ang DMW-OWWA Team ng Embahada upang maseguro ang matiwasay nilang pagtawid mula Israel papuntang Jordan."

(Twenty-six of our compatriots have left through the Embassy's voluntary repatriation gram. They were accompanied to the Allenby Border Crossing by Ambassador Aileen Mendiola and the embassy's DMW-OWWA Team to ensure their peaceful crossing from Israel to Jordan.)

The Embassy added that it arranged for the travelers' transportation, transit visas, travel documents, and plane tickets. 

Before they left, it added, the Filipinos stayed at the Department of Migrant Workers' (DMW) shelter, where they received relief packages and availed of free legal services regarding their benefits. They were also briefed on their reintegration benefits upon their return to the Philippines.

According to Dano Tingcungco's report on 24 Oras Weekend on Sunday, four more Filipinos—tourists who have left Israel and arrived in Amman, Jordan, where the Philippine Embassy met with them—are expected to arrive in the Philippines as well.

In a press conference on Sunday, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac said that this first batch of returnees is set to arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday morning, and that the government is processing the repatriation of 233 more Filipinos from Israel.

Israel launched several airstrikes on Iran on June 13, claiming that the Islamic Republic was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. Iran retaliated, striking several airstrikes against Israel. On Sunday, the US bombed three nuclear sites in Iran.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has pointed to its right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the international Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East believed to have nuclear weapons. The country does not deny nor confirm that. — BM, GMA Integrated News