MANILA
\nThe Philippines said on Friday it will evacuate 11,000 citizens from Lebanon the moment Israeli forces cross the border to launch a ground offensive against Hezbollah.
\nIsraeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around neighboring Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages.
\nIsrael has rejected a US-backed 21-day ceasefire call, and its military chief has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive.
\n\u201cA ground invasion will lead to mandatory repatriation,\u201d Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said at a press conference in Manila, adding the plan was to move thousands out of the country via the sea.
\nHe did not provide other details.
\nManila had earlier urged Filipinos to leave Lebanon before airlines stopped flying to Beirut but most of its citizens did not heed the call, Filipino diplomats said.
\nMillions of Filipinos work overseas \u2014 with large numbers concentrated in the Middle East \u2014 due to limited job opportunities at home. Around 90 percent of those working in Lebanon are women migrant domestic workers.
\n\u201cTo some of them, getting killed in war is preferable to starving to death,\u201d de Vega said, adding there have so far been no Filipino casualties from the Israeli air campaign against Hezbollah.
\nAfter Israel\u2019s war with Hamas erupted last year following the Palestinian militant group\u2019s October 7 attack, Manila began voluntary repatriations of its citizens from the areas affected by the fighting.
\nThe conflict has since spilled into Lebanon, with Israel\u2019s ongoing bombardments in the country raising fears of an all-out regional war in the Middle East.
\nSo far, only 500 Filipinos have taken up the government\u2019s offer to leave Lebanon, De Vega said.
\nFilipino ambassador to Beirut Raymond Balatbat said 196 Filipinos have fled southern Lebanon, where the Israeli campaign has been concentrated.
\nMost Filipinos working in the country are based in central Lebanon around Beirut, he added.
\nAnthony Mandap, consul-general at the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv, said there are no plans as of now to repatriate some 30,000 Filipinos working in Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA The Philippines said on Friday it will evacuate 11,000 citizens from Lebanon the moment Israeli forces cross the border to launch a ground offensive against Hezbollah. Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around neighboring Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages. Israel has rejected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-433969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n