MANILA: The Philippines on Wednesday lifted its ban on migrant workers heading to jobs in Kuwait, capping a diplomatic row sparked when a murdered Filipino maid was found in her employer’s freezer.
The news comes days after Kuwait and the Philippines inked a deal to regulate and protect the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who seek higher-paid employment in the wealthy Gulf state.
The spat, simmering for months, reached its lowest point in April when Kuwaiti authorities expelled Manila’s envoy over videos showing embassy staff helping Filipino workers flee allegedly abusive bosses in Kuwait.
“President (Rodrigo Duterte) directed me to lift the ban totally... both for the domestic and skilled professionals,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello.
“The president deemed that our overseas workers are protected in Kuwait and he will no longer see incidents of maltreatment, hopefully.”
Around 262,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, nearly 60 percent of them domestic workers, according to the Philippine foreign ministry.
They are among the millions of its citizens the Philippines has sent to work abroad, seeking salaries they cannot get in their relatively impoverished nation.
The money they send back home accounts for about 10 percent of the Philippine economy.
Duterte in February prohibited workers from heading to Kuwait when domestic helper Joanna Demafelis’s corpse was discovered in a freezer in her employer’s home.
The president lashed out at Kuwait, alleging Arab employers routinely rape Filipino workers, force them to work 21 hours a day and feed them scraps.
Relations appeared to recover after a Kuwaiti court sentenced to death in absentia a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife for Demafelis’s killing.
Following the verdict, Duterte announced plans to visit Kuwait to seal an agreement on workplace safety guarantees for the Filipinos working in the Gulf nation.
But after the rescue videos were released by the Philippine foreign ministry and Manila’s ambassador was ordered out of Kuwait, relations plunged again.
Duterte declared on April 30 that the ban on Filipino workers leaving for the Gulf nation was permanent and urged his citizens to come home if they were being mistreated.
Kuwait sought to calm the confrontation a day later, calling it largely the result of a misunderstanding. Tensions quickly cooled and the two nations on Friday reached an agreement on worker protections.
“Even our labor diplomacy has improved and our relationship and diplomatic ties are now stronger,” Bello said on Wednesday.
A copy of the agreement seen by AFP says that workers will be allowed to keep their passports and cellphones — often confiscated by employers.
It stipulates that contract renewals should be approved by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, instead of being automatic.
Employers must also provide domestic workers with food, housing, clothing and health insurance, according to the document.
The lot of migrant workers is a sensitive issue in the Philippines that gets used domestically for political purposes.
The government has for decades hailed overseas workers as modern heroes but advocacy groups have highlighted the social cost of migration, tearing families apart and making Filipinos vulnerable to abuse.
Philippines lifts ban for Kuwait-bound workers
Philippines lifts ban for Kuwait-bound workers
- Around 262,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, nearly 60 percent of them domestic workers
- Contract renewals should be approved by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, instead of being automatic
Baby freezes to death overnight in Gaza as Israel and Hamas trade accusations of ceasefire delays
- 3-week old baby was the third to die from the cold in Gaza’s tent camps in recent days, doctors said
- UN says unable to distribute more than half the aid because Israeli forces deny permission to move within Gaza
JERUSALEM: A baby girl froze to death overnight in Gaza, while Israel and Hamas accused each other of complicating ceasefire efforts that could wind down the 14-month war.
The 3-week old baby was the third to die from the cold in Gaza’s tent camps in recent days, doctors said, deaths that underscore the squalid conditions, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians crammed into often ramshackle tents after fleeing Israeli offensives.
Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The offensive has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are packed into tent camps along the coast as the cold, wet winter sets in. Aid groups have struggled to deliver food and supplies and say there are shortages of blankets, warm clothing and firewood.
Israel has increased the amount of aid it allows into the territory, reaching an average of 130 trucks a day so far this month, up from around 70 a day in October and November. Still, the amount remains well below than previous months and the United Nations says it is unable to distribute more than half the aid because Israeli forces deny permission to move within Gaza or because of rampant lawlessness and theft from trucks.
The father of 3-week-old Sila, Mahmoud Al-Faseeh, wrapped her in a blanket to try and keep her warm in their tent in the Muwasi area outside the town of Khan Younis, but it wasn’t enough, he told The Associated Press. He said the tent was not sealed from the wind and the ground was cold, as temperatures on Tuesday night dropped to 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit.) Muwasi is a desolate area of dunes and farmland on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast.
“It was very cold overnight and as adults we couldn’t even take it. We couldn’t stay warm,” he said. Sila woke up crying three times overnight and in the morning they found her unresponsive, her body stiff.
“She was like wood,” said Al-Faseeh. They rushed her to a field hospital where doctors tried to revive her, but her lungs had already deteriorated. Images of Sila taken by the AP showed the little girl with purple lips, her pale skin blotchy.
Ahmed Al-Farra, director of the children’s ward at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, confirmed that the baby died of hypothermia. He said two other babies — one 3 days old, the other a month old — had been brought to the hospital over the past 48 hours after dying of hypothermia.
Meanwhile, hopes for a ceasefire looked complicated Wednesday, with Israel and the militant Hamas group that runs Gaza trading accusations of delaying an agreement. In recent weeks, the two sides appeared to be inching toward a deal that would bring home dozens of hostages held by the militants in Gaza, but differences have emerged.
Although Israel and Hamas have expressed optimism that progress was being made toward a deal, sticking points remain over the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, people involved in the talks say.
On Wednesday, Hamas accused Israel of introducing new conditions related to the withdrawal from Gaza, the prisoners and the return of displaced people, which it said was delaying the deal.
Israel’s government accused Hamas of reneging on understandings that have already been reached.” Still, both sides said discussions are ongoing.
Israel’s negotiating team, which includes members from its intelligence agencies and the military, returned from Qatar on Tuesday evening for internal consultations, following a week of what it called “significant negotiations.”
During its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, Hamas and other groups took about 250 people hostages and brought them to Gaza. A previous truce in November 2023 freed more than 100 hostages, while others have been rescued or their remains have been recovered over the past year.
Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Gaza — at least a third whom it believes were killed during the Oct. 7 attack or died in captivity.
Sporadic talks have taken place for a year, but in recent weeks there’s been a renewed push to reach a deal.
President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month for his second term, has demanded the immediate release of Israeli hostages, saying on social media that if they’re not freed before he is sworn in, there will be “HELL TO PAY.”
Families of the hostages are becoming increasingly angry, calling on the Israeli government for a ceasefire before Trump is sworn in.
After Israel’s high-level negotiation team returned from Doha this week, hostage families called an emergency press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, pleading for a ceasefire and a complete end to the war.
Shir Siegel, the daughter of Israeli-American Keith Siegel, whose mother was released after more than 50 days in captivity, said every delay could endanger their lives. “There are moments when every second is fateful, and this is one of those moments,” she said.
Families of the hostages marked the first night of Hannukah with a candle lighting ceremony in Tel Aviv as well as by the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
The agreement would take effect in phases and include a halt in fighting, an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and a surge in aid to the besieged Gaza, according to Egyptian, Hamas and American officials. The last phase would include the release of any remaining hostages, an end to the war and talks on reconstruction.
At least 10 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, medics say
- In a separate incident, five journalists were killed when their vehicle was struck in the vicinity of Al-Awda hospital
At least 10 people were killed and more than a dozen wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza early on Thursday, medics with the Gaza health authorities said.
Five people were killed and 20 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, the medics reported. They warned the death toll could rise as many remained trapped under the rubble.
In a separate incident, five journalists were killed when their vehicle was struck in the vicinity of Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat in central Gaza, the enclave’s health authorities said. The journalists worked for the Al-Quds Al-Youm television channel.
Palestinian media and local reporters said the vehicle was marked as a media van and was used by journalists to report from inside the hospital and Nuseirat camp.
There was no immediate Israeli comment on the reported strikes.
On Wednesday, Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel traded blame over their failure to conclude a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in past days.
Clashes between Islamists now in power in Syria and Assad’s supporters kill 6 fighters
- Syria’s transition has been surprisingly smooth but it’s only been a few weeks since Assad fled the country and his administration and forces melted away
DAMASCUS, Syria: Clashes between Islamists who took over Syria and supporters of ousted President Bashar Assad’s government killed six Islamic fighters on Wednesday and wounded others, according to a British-based war monitor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighters were killed while trying to arrest a former official in Assad’s government, accused of issuing execution orders and arbitrary rulings against thousands of prisoners. The fighters were from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, which led the stunning offensive that toppled Assad earlier this month.
Syria’s transition has been surprisingly smooth but it’s only been a few weeks since Assad fled the country and his administration and forces melted away. The insurgents who ousted Assad are rooted in fundamentalist Islamist ideology, and though they have vowed to create a pluralist system, it isn’t clear how or whether they plan to share power.
Since Assad’s fall, dozens of Syrians have been killed in acts of revenge, according to activists and monitors, the vast majority of them from the minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that Assad belongs to.
In the capital, Damascus, Alawite protesters scuffled with Sunni counter-protesters and gunshots were heard. The Associated Press could not confirm details of the shooting.
Alawite protests also took place along the coast of Syria, in the city of Homs and the Hama countryside. Some called for the release of soldiers from the former Syrian army now imprisoned by the HTS. At least one protester was killed and five were wounded in Homs by HTS forces suppressing the demonstration, said the Syrian Observatory. In response to the protests, HTS imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. until 8am.
The Alawite protests were apparently in part sparked by an online video showing the burning of an Alawite shrine. The interim authorities insisted the video was old and not a recent incident.
Sectarian violence has erupted in bursts since Assad’s ouster but nothing close to the level feared after nearly 14 years of civil war that killed an estimated half-million people. The war fractured Syria, creating millions of refugees and displacing tens of thousands throughout the country.
This week, some Syrians who were forcibly displaced, started trickling home, trying to rebuild their lives. Shocked by the devastation, many found that little remains of their houses.
In the northwestern Idlib region, residents were repairing shops and sealing damaged windows on Tuesday, trying to bring back a sense of normalcy.
The city of Idlib and much of the surrounding province has for years been under control of the HTS, led by Ahmad Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, once aligned with Al-Qaeda, but has been the scene of relentless attacks by the government forces.
Hajjah Zakia Daemessaid, who was forcibly displaced during the war, said coming back to her house in the Idlib countryside was bitter-sweet.
“My husband and I spent 43 years of hard work saving money to build our home, only to find that all of it has gone to waste,” said the 62-year-old.
In the dusty neighborhoods, cars drove by with luggage strapped on top. People stood idly on the streets or sat in empty coffee shops.
In Damascus, Syria’s new authorities raided warehouses on Wednesday, confiscating drugs such as Captagon and cannabis, used by Assad’s forces. A million Captagon pills and hundreds of kilograms (pounds) of cannabis were set ablaze, the interim authorities said.
Turkiye warns Kurdish militia in Syria ‘will be buried’ if they do not lay down arms
- Following Assad’s departure, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria’s future
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Kurdish militants in Syria will either lay down their weapons or “be buried,” amid hostilities between Turkiye-backed Syrian fighters and the militants since the fall of Bashar Assad this month.
Following Assad’s departure, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria’s future. The change in Syria’s leadership has left the country’s main Kurdish factions on the back foot.
“The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament.
“We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings,” he added.
Turkiye views the Kurdish YPG militia — the main component of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces — as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party militia, known as the PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US and the European Union. Ankara has repeatedly called on its NATO ally Washington and others to stop supporting the YPG.
Earlier, Turkiye’s Defense Ministry said the armed forces had killed 21 YPG-PKK militants in northern Syria and Iraq.
Israeli airstrike in Bekaa shakes ceasefire 29 days after it came into effect
- The Israeli army claimed that “an Israeli fighter jet attacked a terrorist cell in the Bekaa”
BEIRUT: For the first time since the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on Nov. 27, Israel breached the agreement deep inside Lebanese territory.
In the early hours of Wednesday, an Israeli warplane struck the town of Taraya near Baalbek.
A Lebanese security source said the airstrike occurred at 2:45 a.m., targeting a residence and an associated garage in the town of Taraya owned by a member of the Hamieh family. There were no casualties.
The Israeli army claimed that “an Israeli fighter jet attacked a terrorist cell in the Bekaa.”
Taraya is on the eastern slopes of the western Lebanese mountains, approximately 73 kilometers from the capital city of Beirut and 23 kilometers from the city of Baalbek. It was previously targeted by Israeli airstrikes during the extensive war on Lebanon — which lasted for 64 days — under the pretext of targeting sites and weapon depots belonging to Hezbollah.
Israel’s continued flouting of the terms of the ceasefire, which has been in effect for 29 days, were the focal point of a meeting held on Tuesday evening between caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and representatives from the United States, France, and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.
The attendees included American Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, France’s Gen. Guillaume Ponchin, the commander of the Southern Litani sector of the Lebanese Army, Brig. Gen. Edgar Lowndes, and UNIFIL Commander Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, along with the Lebanese army commander, Brig. Gen. Joseph Aoun.
Mikati called on the committee to “stop the Israeli violations and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the border areas.”
He also agreed with the attendees to hold successive meetings with the Lebanese army to discuss the issues raised.
Israeli reconnaissance planes resumed incursions into Lebanese airspace, flying at low altitude over southern Lebanon, Beirut and its southern suburbs, after ceasing operations for two days.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army raised Israeli flags at a vacant Lebanese army post on Awida Hill.
This site, a strategic location, is where the Lebanese army previously established a base. It is adjacent to the villages of Kfar Kila, Adaisseh, Deir Mimas and Taybeh and overlooks Israeli settlements in Galilee, including Kiryat Shmona and Hula Valley, extending to Tiberias and deep into the Golan Heights.
Israeli raids on the border village of Taybeh killed two people on Monday.
The Israeli forces that invaded several border villages in southern Lebanon demolished houses and bulldozed roads on the outskirts of Houla, adjacent to Mays Al-Jabal. Lebanese residents are still denied entry to the occupied area, which includes 62 villages.
Israeli artillery shelling on Wednesday targeted Tayr Harfa, the outskirts of Majdal Zoun, and Maroun Al-Ras. Israeli forces also struck Jebbayn, firing bursts of machine-gun fire toward the town.
Media reports in Beirut reported that “US envoy Amos Hochstein will visit Beirut at the beginning of next year to help implement the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.”
Israeli forces have dragged their heels in the withdrawal from invaded border areas, delaying the Lebanese army’s deployment in the cleared area.
Fears grow that Israeli’s war against Lebanon may restart, because the committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire is unable to stop Israeli violations.
The Israeli army is using the 60-day period in the ceasefire agreement for the complete withdrawal of its troops from invaded areas to destroy what is left of Hezbollah’s positions and weapon depots.
Meanwhile, explosions were heard in the Anti-Lebanon mountains separating Lebanon and Syria, apparently caused by the Lebanese army detonating explosive remnants of Israeli operations against Bekaa.
