Israel raid Gaza anew; 50 OFWs back home Monday

The Israeli military said Friday its ground forces backed by fighter jets and drones carried out another “targeted raid” in Gaza as it prepares for a land invasion.

This developed as a fourth batch of Filipino repatriates fleeing Israel’s war with Hamas will come home next week, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Friday.

“A fourth batch is poised to come home on Monday (Oct. 30)… a rather large group, around 50, this is the biggest group yet,” DMW Officer-in-Charge Hans Leo Cacdac told TeleRadyo Serbisyo in Filipino.

Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss acknowledged that two Filipinos in Israel were “likely kidnapped” by militant group Hamas, which invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7 and killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians – including four overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“It is likely that there are two OFWs that have been kidnapped. But I’m saying this, it is likely,” Fluss said in an interview.

The two Pinoys were the same ones previously identified by Israeli defense forces among the 180 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.

One of the OFWs, Gelienor Pacheco, has been seen on a list of hostages recorded by Palestinian authorities, according to his wife, Clarice, who continues to hold out hope her husband will be rescued soon, ABS-CBN reported.

Around 80 Filipinos are still in Gaza awaiting to exit the Strip through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, which has only been opened for humanitarian aid trucks so far.

Some 30,000 Filipinos are in Israel, mostly working as caregivers, officials said.

Meanwhile, nearly half of Israelis are opposed to an “immediate” military ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, according to a survey published Friday that was cited by the daily newspaper Maariv.

According to the poll by the Panel4All institute, 49 percent of respondents said it would be better to “wait” before launching a ground offensive on the besieged Palestinian territory.

Just 29 percent of respondents said the offensive should start “immediately”.

The poll was carried out on October 25 and 26 with 522 people questioned for the survey in the country of approximately 10 million.

Last week, 65 percent of those surveyed by the same institute said that they supported a military invasion of the Gaza Strip, according to Maariv. However, that survey did not specify the timing of the operation.

Israel has launched blistering air and artillery strikes on Gaza for nearly three weeks after Hamas militants staged the worst-ever attack in Israel’s history.

“During the last day, IDF (Israeli military) ground forces, accompanied by IDF fighter jets and UAVs, conducted an additional targeted raid in the central Gaza Strip,” an army statement said.

“The IDF identified and struck numerous terror targets, including anti-tank missile launch sites, military command and control centres, as well as Hamas terrorists,” it said, saying troops “exited the area at the end of the activity”.

Black-and-white footage released by the military showed a column of armoured vehicles as a thick cloud of dust billowed into the sky after the strikes.

The military conducted a similar ground operation using tanks and infantry the previous night in the northern part of the Palestinian territory.

The latest incursions came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated earlier this week that Israel was “preparing for a ground offensive”.

But Hamas said Israeli troops had also tried to stage an incursion by sea by the southern town of Rafah early on Friday, which it said was thwarted by its armed wing.

“The enemy tried to carry out a large-scale amphibious operation on Rafah’s coast at dawn on Friday, where the attempt was discovered and confronted by fighters,” an Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades statement said.

“The (Israeli) air force intervened and they fled by sea, leaving behind a quantity of weapons.”

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was checking details of the claim.

On October 7, throngs of Hamas gunmen poured from Gaza into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 229 more, according to Israeli officials.

In retaliatory Israeli air and artillery strikes, at least 7,028 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 2,913 children, according to figures released by the Hamas-controlled health ministry.

The fatalities in Gaza are the highest since Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Palestinian territory in 2005. AFP with Rey Requejo

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