Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega bared on Friday the third Filipino casualty in the ongoing tension between the Israeli forces and the Palestinian militant group Hamas while three others remain missing.
“There is a third Filipino casualty. A 49-year-old woman from Negros Occidental,” De Vega told reporters during a press briefing in Malacañang.
De Vega said that the family of the victim was already informed about the news along with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., who already instructed the government agencies involved in monitoring the situation in Israel to work closely with the family and provide them with all the necessary assistance.
In fact, De Vega said that the Embassy in Israel is closely coordinating with the sisters of the third casualty who are in Kuwait supposedly for the repatriation of her remains.
The Embassy of Israel identified earlier the two Filipino casualties in the Israel-Hamas conflict as a 36-year-old female from Pangasinan who had been working in Israel for six years, and a 42-year-old male from Pampanga.
Quoting reports from the embassy, De Vega said that there are still three missing Filipinos. He emphasized that the government is not losing hope that they will still show up.
“However, it doesn’t mean that there is no hope because as we said before, there were a lot more missing a week ago – ngayon, paunti nang paunti. So possibly, these three will still show up. We hope,” he said.
“And now, we join the nation in extending our deepest sympathies to the relatives of the casualty who was also a caregiver,” he added.
De Vega said that the Philippine government extends its gratitude to the Israeli government for their continued assistance to the Filipino people who are affected by the ongoing conflict. |PND
