Pinoy feared killed in Israel

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino may have been one of the casualties in the attacks on Israel by the militant Hamas group, the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv said yesterday, citing the discovery by Israeli authorities of human remains with Asian features.

An embassy official said a DNA test on the body would be made to determine if it is of the female caregiver who – according to a family member – has been missing since the outbreak of violence.

Leaders of the Filipino community in Israel alerted the embassy to the discovery of the remains.

Embassy officials are in contact with the missing caregiver’s sister, who was among the 23 Filipinos rescued from Hamas militants.

“No confirmation yet,” an official told The STAR, referring to the identity of the remains, which reportedly were already in an advanced state of decomposition. “The embassy contacted the sister. She was fearful and distraught,” the official added.

The embassy has dispatched a team to provide assistance to evacuated Filipinos housed in hotels as well as to check hospitals where some Filipinos may have been taken.

It said it is “deeply grateful to the Israeli security forces risking their lives to rescue our kababayan caught in the combat areas, as well as to the Israeli emergency services and kibbutz authorities who included Filipino nationals in their evacuation operations.”

Ambassador Pedro Laylo Jr. said in an interview with CNN Philippines that the embassy received the report on the death of the Filipino Monday night.

“We received a report (Monday) night that there had been a Filipino casualty. So first thing in the morning our labor attaché will verify if a caregiver had died,” Laylo said in Filipino.

Verification of reports received by the embassy, he said, usually takes time, as it has to rely only on Israeli authorities for information.

As of yesterday, six Filipinos – all caregivers – remain unaccounted for, including the reported fatality. They were working in communities near the Gaza border. The whereabouts of an agro-student, the seventh reported missing on Monday, had already been established.

Although there is no end in sight to the violence in Israel and Gaza Strip, the Marcos