7 Pinoys feared held by Hamas

MANILA, Philippines — Seven Filipinos in Israel working near the Gaza Strip are unaccounted for and are feared to have been taken by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which launched attacks on the Jewish state, sources said yesterday.

The Filipinos could not be contacted through their mobile phones and were observed to have made no social media activities since the attacks.

The Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv, in a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), said six Filipinos were unaccounted for on record. The embassy report did not say where the Filipinos lived and worked, or where they may have been taken hostage by the militants. The embassy said the Filipinos could not be contacted by phone or through their social media accounts.

“The embassy is working non-stop with Israeli security authorities and community contacts to ascertain their condition. We continue to await feedback from them,” the embassy said.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Arnell Ignacio, meanwhile, placed the number of missing at five, and belied reports they had been taken by the militants as hostages.

One Filipino, he said, was recuperating at a hospital after being treated for a minor gunshot wound sustained during rescue operation. OWWA identified him as Joey Fasulingan.

This was confirmed by the DFA, which said that the Filipino was treated at a hospital in Be’ersheva. Another Filipino was treated for smoke inhalation and brought to a hotel in Tel Aviv.

A Filipina reached out to the embassy to inform authorities that she recognized her husband, a Filipino and one of the six unaccounted for, in one of the videos circulating in social media, which showed a man being held by armed men and most likely taken to Gaza.

“Post (embassy) urgently relayed this to the Israel military authorities. Post cannot independently verify his identity based on the video alone but considers the report of the wife as important. We are also working with community contacts on his case,” the embassy said.

As of yesterday, 20 Filipinos have been rescued and transferred to safer areas or housed in hotels. According to records of Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, there