DUBAI: Philippine authorities dealing with the coronavirus pandemic are not attuned to the COVID-19 situation in Gulf countries, further exasperating overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the region who want to have a hassle-free return home, a migrant expert said.
“They do not keep in touch with the realities happening in Gulf countries,” migrant labor expert Emmanuel Geslani told Arab News, adding that that this could be the reason why Gulf states continue to be excluded from the Philippines’ green list of countries with less stringent quarantine protocols.
“The low COVID-19 incidence [in Gulf countries] must be seriously studied and considered, so that OFWs, especially those taking just short breaks, who want to go home, do not have to worry about quarantine requirements,’ Geslani said.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the lead group dealing with the Philippines’ COVID-19 response, has included 46 countries and jurisdictions in its updated ‘green’ list, most of whom have low OFW densities – as well as Hong Kong, China and New Zealand where the numbers of workers are high.
Those outside the green list were automatically in the yellow list, including all Gulf and Middle East countries where a huge number of expatriate Filipino workers are present. Latvia was the only country in the red list, where no travelers would be allowed entry.
Fully vaccinated OFWs originating from yellow-listed countries must stay in a hotel or a facility for quarantine until they receive a negative PCR test taken on their fifth day upon arrival. They are then required to undergo home quarantine until their 10th day.
They can opt to forgo institutional quarantine if they provide a negative PCR test result within 72 hours prior their flight, but must self-monitor for any symptom until their 14th day in the country.
“I would like to know the Philippines’ basis why the UAE and other Gulf countries remain on the yellow list, considering these countries have some of the highest vaccination rates already,” according to Shiloh, who asked Arab News to only use his first name.
COVID-19 cases in Gulf states have fallen drastically due to their aggressive inoculation programs, with just 41 infections reported in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, 81 in the UAE on Sunday, while only 12 cases were reported in Kuwait on Sunday.
The Abu Dhabi-based facilities supervisor, together with his fellow Filipino officemates, said that it has been an emotional roller coaster particularly for those who have families back home and have not been there for the last 30 months.
“We feel frustration, anger and even acceptance … but the bottomline is nobody is happy that we cannot go home,” he said.
Margerie, an office manager from Abu Dhabi, is particularly angered by the prolonged quarantine requirement for OFWs, considering she can only manage a short visit to check on her parents – who have been ill recently – as well as her daughters.
“I support the quarantine [requirements] for the safety of our loved ones, but not at the expense of the quality of our stay. About three days [of quarantine] would have been fine by me, it would even cost the government less,” she told Arab News.
The Philippine government pays for the institutional quarantine of returning OFWs, including their meals during the duration of their hotel stay and travel costs to their home destinations.
“Despite the expensive ticket prices, they have gone up almost three times, I would want to go home just to spend time with my family, but I would be left with just a few days to enjoy with them because of the quarantine requirements,” Margerie added.
Flight fares have risen as Philippine officials have limited the daily capacity of airlines as part of protocols to address coronavirus safety, hence limited options meant costlier air travel.
“I understand that PAL (Philippine Airlines) for is allowed only 650 seats daily which is enough to fill only two A330 aircraft it operates. I do not know with other airlines operating from the Gulf region,” Geslani said.
PAL earlier cancelled its Manila-Dubai-Cebu flights on Oct. 31 and Manila-Dubai-Manila flights on Nov. 1 and 2 due to what it described as “flight restrictions imposed by local authorities” related to the new COVID-19 green list.
“These cancellations and adjustments are beyond PAL’s control and prevent us from serving the urgent travel needs of our OFWs and other passengers,” the airline said.
“We urgently appeal to the Philippine and Dubai authorities to work towards resolving the situation so we may again be able to operate our planned schedule of flights to and from Dubai and make use of all our seats onboard each flight,” it added.
Philippine COVID-19 authorities ‘not in touch with realities in Gulf countries’ – migrant labor expert
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Philippine COVID-19 authorities ‘not in touch with realities in Gulf countries’ – migrant labor expert
- The Philippines’ COVID-19 response task force has included 46 countries and jurisdictions in its updated ‘green’ list
- But countries in the Gulf region, who have huge populations of Filipino workers, remain excluded from the list
Large Gaza food convoy violently looted, UNRWA says
GENEVA: A convoy of 109 trucks was violently looted on Nov. 16 after crossing into Gaza, resulting in the loss of 98 trucks, an UNRWA aid official told Reuters on Monday.
The convoy carrying food provided by UN agencies UNRWA and the World Food Programme was instructed by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route from Kerem Shalom crossing, Louise Wateridge, UNRWA Senior Emergency Officer told Reuters.
“This incident highlights the severity of access challenges of bringing aid into southern and central Gaza,” she said.
Majority of South Sudanese will be food insecure next year: UN
- Almost 7.7 million people will be classed as acutely food insecure, according to the IPC, an increase from 7.1 million people the previous lean season
- More than 85 percent of returnees fleeing the war in Sudan will be acutely food insecure from the next lean season in April
Juba: Almost 60 percent of South Sudan’s population will be acutely food insecure next year, with more than two million children at risk of malnutrition, data from a United Nations-backed review warned on Monday.
The world’s youngest country is among the globe’s poorest and is grappling with its worst flooding in decades as well as a massive influx of refugees fleeing the war in Sudan to the north.
The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review estimated that 57 percent of the population would be suffering from acute food insecurity from April.
The United Nations defines acute food insecurity as when a “person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger.”
Almost 7.7 million people will be classed as acutely food insecure, according to the IPC, an increase from 7.1 million people the previous lean season.
“Year after year we see hunger reaching some of the highest levels we’ve seen in South Sudan,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in South Sudan.
“When we look at the areas with the highest levels of food insecurity, it’s clear that a cocktail of despair — conflict and the climate crisis — are the main drivers,” she said.
More than 85 percent of returnees fleeing the war in Sudan will be acutely food insecure from the next lean season in April.
The data also found that 2.1 million children are at risk of malnutrition, compounded by a lack of safe drinking water and sanitation.
“Malnutrition is the end result of a series of crises,” said Hamida Lasseko, UNICEF’s representative in South Sudan, adding the agency was “deeply concerned” that the numbers would increase if aid was not stepped up.
In October, the World Bank warned widespread flooding was “worsening an already critical humanitarian situation.”
The UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, said earlier this month that 1.4 million people had been impacted by the flooding, which had displaced almost 380,000.
Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, the world’s youngest nation has remained plagued by chronic instability, violence and economic stagnation as well as climate disasters such as drought and floods.
The country also faces another period of political paralysis after the presidency delayed elections by two years to December 2026, exasperating international partners.
South Sudan boasts plentiful oil resources but the vital source of revenue was decimated in February when an export pipeline was damaged in neighboring war-torn Sudan.
Israeli strikes kill 18 Palestinians in Gaza, some in attacks on tents, say medics
- Israeli military targets include tents housing displaced families, say medics
- Victims were ‘ripped apart into fragments’, says survivor
CAIRO: Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 18 Palestinians on Monday, including six people who were killed in attacks on tents housing displaced families, medics said.
Four people, two of them children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi, designated as a humanitarian zone, while two were killed in temporary shelters in the southern city of Rafah and another in drone fire, health officials said.
In Beit Lahiya town in northern Gaza, medics said an Israeli missile struck a house, killing at least two people and wounding several others. On Sunday, medics and residents said dozens of people were killed or wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a multi-floor residential building in the town.
The Israeli military, which has been fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza since October 2023, said it conducted strikes on “terrorist targets,” in Beit Lahiya.
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City killed five people and wounded 10 others, medics said. Later on Monday, an Israeli air strike killed four people in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, they added.
There has been no Israeli comment on Monday’s incidents.
In Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, relatives of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on tents housing displaced families sat beside bodies wrapped in blankets and white shrouds to pay farewell before walking them to graves.
“My brother wasn’t the only one; many others have been martyred in this brutal way — children torn to pieces, civilians shredded. They weren’t carrying weapons or even know ‘the resistance’, yet they were ripped apart into fragments,” said Mohammed Aboul Hassan, who lost his brother in the attack.
“We remain steadfast, patient, and resilient, and by the will of God, we will never falter. We will stay steadfast and patient,” he told Reuters.
The Israeli army sent tanks and soldiers into Beit Lahiya and the nearby towns of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, the largest of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee camps, early last month in what it said was a campaign to fight Hamas militants waging attacks and prevent them from regrouping.
Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, said the hospital was under siege by Israeli forces and the World Health Organization had been unable to deliver supplies of food, medicine and surgical equipment.
Cases of malnutrition among children were increasing, he said, and the hospital was operating at a minimal level.
“We receive daily distress calls, but we are unable to assist them due to the lack of ambulances, and the situation is catastrophic,” he said. “Yesterday, I received a distress call from women and children trapped under the rubble, and due to my inability to help them, they are now among the martyrs (dead).”
Israel said it had killed hundreds of militants in the three northern areas, which residents said was cut off from Gaza City, making it difficult and dangerous for them to flee. The armed wings of Hamas and militant group Islamic Jihad said they have killed many Israeli soldiers in anti-tank rocket and mortar fire attacks during the same period.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 43,800 people have been confirmed killed since the war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in attacks on communities in southern Israel that day, and hold dozens of some 250 hostages they took back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Hamas political office has not moved to Turkiye from Qatar, Turkish source says
ANKARA: A Turkish diplomatic source dismissed on Monday reports that Hamas had moved its political office to Turkiye from Qatar, adding that members of the Palestinian militant group only visited the country from time to time.
Qatar said last week it had told Hamas and Israel that it will suspend efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until both show willingness and seriousness. Doha also said media reports that it had told Hamas to leave the Gulf Arab country were not accurate.
NATO member Turkiye has fiercely criticized Israel over its offensives in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon and does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization. Some Hamas political officials regularly visit Turkiye.
“Hamas Political Bureau members visit Turkiye from time to time. Claims that indicate the Hamas Political Bureau has moved to Turkiye do not reflect the truth,” the diplomatic source said.
Later on Monday, Hamas dismissed the reports as “rumors the (Israeli) occupation is trying to publish from time to time.”
Schools closed in Beirut after deadly Israeli strike
- Sunday’s strikes hit densely populated districts of central Beirut
- Six people were killed in the strikes
BEIRUT: Schools in Beirut were closed on Monday after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital killed six people including Hezbollah’s spokesman, the latest in a string of top militant targets slain in the war.
Israel escalated its bombardment of Hezbollah strongholds in late September, vowing to secure its northern border with Lebanon to allow Israelis displaced by cross-border fire to return home.
Sunday’s strikes hit densely populated districts of central Beirut that had so far been spared the violence engulfing other areas of Lebanon.
Six people were killed in the strikes, according to Lebanese health ministry figures, including Hezbollah media relations chief Mohammed Afif, the group and Israel’s military said.
The strikes prompted the education ministry to shut schools and higher education institutions in the Beirut area for two days.
Children and young people around Lebanon have been heavily impacted by the war, which has seen schools around the country turned into shelters for the displaced.
Israel widened the focus of its war from Gaza to Lebanon in late September, nearly a year into the conflict in Gaza that was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.
In support of its Palestinian ally, Hezbollah launched low-intensity strikes on Israel after the attack, forcing about 60,000 Israelis to flee their homes.
With Hamas weakened but not crushed, Israel escalated its battle against Hezbollah, vowing to fight until victory.
Lebanese authorities say more than 3,480 people have been killed since October last year, with most casualties recorded since September.
Israel says 48 soldiers have been killed fighting Hezbollah.
Israeli strikes have killed senior Hezbollah officials including its leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September.
The group’s spokesman Afif was part of Nasrallah’s inner circle, and one of the group’s few officials to engage with the press.
Another strike hit a busy shopping district of Beirut, sparking a huge blaze that engulfed part of a building and several shops nearby.
Lebanon’s National News Agency said the fire had largely been extinguished by Monday morning, noting it had caused diesel fuel tanks to explode.
It also reported new strikes early Monday on locations around south Lebanon, long a stronghold of Hezbollah.
Israel’s military told AFP it had hit more than 200 targets in Lebanon over 36 hours, including in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Hezbollah’s main bastion.
Lebanon’s military, which is not a party to the conflict, said Israel “directly targeted” an army center in south Lebanon on Sunday, killing two soldiers.
Israel’s military said about 20 projectiles crossed from Lebanon into Israel, and some were intercepted.
Lebanon last week said it was reviewing a US truce proposal in the Israel-Hezbollah war, as Hamas said it was ready for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Ongoing war on Gaza
So far, however, there has been no sign of the wars abating.
The Israeli military kept up its campaign in Gaza over the weekend, where civil defense rescuers said strikes on Sunday killed dozens of people.
Vowing to stop Hamas from regrouping in northern Gaza near the border, Israel on October 6 began an air and ground operation in Jabalia and then expanded it to Beit Lahia.
On Sunday, Gaza’s civil defense agency said 34 people were killed, including children, and dozens were missing after an Israeli air strike hit a five-story residential building in Beit Lahia.
“The chances of rescuing more wounded are decreasing because of the continuous shooting and artillery shelling,” civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
Weighed down with backpacks, many like Omar Abdel Aal were fleeing, often on foot, through dusty streets.
“They bombarded the houses and completely destroyed Beit Lahia,” he said.
Israel’s military said there were “ongoing terrorist activities in the area of Beit Lahia” and several strikes were directed at militant targets there.
“We emphasize that there have been continuous efforts to evacuate the civilian population from the active war zone in the area,” the military said.
The United Nations and others have condemned humanitarian conditions in northern Gaza, with the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees last week calling the situation “catastrophic.”
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday said the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war had reached 43,846, a majority civilians, figures that the United Nations consider reliable.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
