MANILA, Philippines: The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has repatriated a total of 136 out of the 137 Filipinos who sought to leave Gaza where fighting erupted between the Hamas group and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) late last year.

DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs Eduardo José de Vega said that the only Filipino citizen left in Gaza is a Filipino nun who decided to stay. The Philippine Embassy in Amman is monitoring her situation. She was not identified.

De Vega shared that the last batch of 14 Filipinos fleeing from the war-torn Palestinian territory arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Wednesday morning, Feb. 21, 2024.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Manila office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) joined the DFA-OUMWA in welcoming the repatriates.

"We are pleased to know that they safely arrived today in the Philippines," said De Vega. "As with our past repatriates from Gaza, the DFA, through the Philippine Embassy in Cairo, Egypt provided welfare assistance to the families who arrived today. We hope that it can help them start over."

This is the eighth repatriation that the DFA-OUMWA facilitated since Hamas attacked Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, causing conflict in Gaza between the terrorist group and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The DFA-OUMWA coordinated the repatriation with the Philippine Embassies in Cairo, Amman (Jordan), and Doha (Qatar).

"Welcoming the repatriates is the last part of the DFA-OUMWA's assistance regularly extended to distressed Filipinos and their families arriving from conflict areas. In a way, we are assuring them that they are now safe in the Philippines," De Vega said.

The operation implements the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued last year to ensure the safety of all Filipinos in Gaza.