Philippine COVID-19 authorities ‘not in touch with realities in Gulf countries’ – migrant labor expert

Overseas Filipino workers from the Gulf region particularly those who plan to visit only for a short periods, have been clamoring for the Philippine government to ease coronavirus quarantine requirements. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 31 October 2021
Follow

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

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.


China ‘welcomes’ Gaza ceasefire coming into effect

Updated 6 sec ago
Follow

China ‘welcomes’ Gaza ceasefire coming into effect

BEJING: China on Monday hailed the start of a long-awaited truce aimed at ending more than 15 months of war in Gaza.
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas formally entered into force on Sunday, paving the way for the exchange of Palestinian prisoners and Israeli hostages.
A spokeswoman for Beijing’s foreign ministry said “China welcomes the Gaza ceasefire agreement coming into effect.”
“We hope that the agreement will be fully and continuously implemented, and that a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire in Gaza will be achieved,” Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing.
“China will continue to work with the international community to promote peace and stability in the Middle East,” she said.
China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
It has positioned itself as a more neutral actor on the conflict than its rival the United States, but has repeatedly called on Israel to end what it calls humanitarian disasters in Gaza.
Last summer, China hosted rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in Beijing, where they signed an agreement to form a “national unity government” in Gaza after the end of hostilities.

UAE launches largest Gaza aid operation as truce starts

Updated 41 min 34 sec ago
Follow

UAE launches largest Gaza aid operation as truce starts

  • 20 trucks carry essential food supplies, winter clothing and basic necessities 

DUBAI: The UAE has launched its largest relief operation in Gaza, under Operation Chivalrous Knight 3, as the Hamas-Israel ceasefire took effect on Sunday.

A convoy of 20 trucks carried over 200 tonnes of essential humanitarian aid including food, winter clothing and other basic necessities for Palestinian families impacted by Israel’s war on Gaza.

To date, Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 has already sent 156 convoys to Gaza, amounting to about 29,784 tonnes of humanitarian aid.

This aid has significantly alleviated the challenging circumstances faced by Gaza’s residents, particularly the most vulnerable groups, by meeting their basic needs, state news agency WAM reported.

Operation Chivalrous Knight 3 has been in operation for over 441 days and has overseen over 500 planeloads of aid, five transport ships, and more than 2,500 trucks from Egypt into Gaza, WAM added.

The UAE’s projects include a field hospital in Gaza, and a floating hospital in Arish, Egypt.

In addition, the country has overseen water supply projects including the construction of desalination plants in Rafah, Egypt, and the “Birds of Goodness” initiative, which involves airdropping aid to areas inaccessible by land, notably in northern Gaza.


Israel frees 90 Palestinian prisoners as ceasefire takes hold after Hamas returns 3 Israeli hostages

Updated 20 January 2025
Follow

Israel frees 90 Palestinian prisoners as ceasefire takes hold after Hamas returns 3 Israeli hostages

  • Palestinians across Gaza return home as first trucks with humanitarian aid enter devastated territory
  • Israel’s military, which occupies the West Bank, had warned Palestinians against public celebration

RAMALLAH, West Bank: The first three hostages were released from Gaza and the first Palestinian prisoners were freed from Israeli custody as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold following 15 months of war, with mixed emotions and more difficult steps ahead over the next six weeks.
Palestinians across Gaza began making their way home, and the first trucks with a surge of humanitarian aid began to enter the devastated territory.
The ceasefire that began on Sunday morning raises hopes for ending the devastating conflict and returning the nearly 100 remaining hostages abducted in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. But major questions remain about whether fighting will resume after the six-week first phase.
First came the release of Emily Damari, 28; Romi Gonen, 24, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, in a tense handover to the Red Cross on a Gaza City street. Footage showed them surrounded by a crowd of thousands, accompanied by masked, armed men wearing green Hamas headbands.
The women were taken to Israeli forces and then into Israel, where they hugged family members fiercely and wept. Damari was shown raising her bandaged hand in triumph. The military said she lost two fingers in the Oct. 7 attack.
In Tel Aviv, thousands of people who gathered to watch the news on large screens erupted in applause. For months, many had gathered in the square weekly to demand a ceasefire deal.
“An entire nation embraces you,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Over seven hours later, the first Palestinian prisoners were released. They had been detained for what Israel called offenses related to its security, from throwing stones to more serious accusations such as attempted murder.
Israel’s military, which occupies the West Bank, warned Palestinians against public celebration — the release took place after 1 a.m. — but crowds thronged the buses after they left the prison, some people climbing on top or waving flags, including those of Hamas.
There were fireworks and whistles, and shouts of “God is great.” Those released were hoisted onto others’ shoulders or embraced.
The most prominent detainee freed was Khalida Jarrar, 62, a member of a secular leftist faction that was involved in attacks against Israel in the 1970s but later scaled back militant activities. Since her arrest in late 2023, she was held under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders that were criticized by human rights groups.
The next release of hostages and prisoners is due on Saturday, with 33 hostages and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees to be freed over the ceasefire’s 42-day first phase. In just over two weeks, talks are to begin on the far more challenging second phase.
This is just the second ceasefire in the war, longer and more consequential than a weeklong pause in November 2023, with the potential to end the fighting for good.
But Netanyahu, who had been under pressure from both the Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump to achieve a deal before Monday’s US inauguration, has said he has Trump’s backing to continue fighting if necessary.
Meanwhile, Israel’s hard-line national security minister said his Jewish Power faction was quitting the government in protest over the ceasefire, reflecting the political friction that some Israelis said delayed a deal. Itamar Ben-Gvir’s departure weakens Netanyahu’s coalition but will not affect the truce.
‘Joy mixed with pain’
Across Gaza, there was relief and grief. The fighting has killed tens of thousands, destroyed large areas and displaced most of the population.
“This ceasefire was a joy mixed with pain, because my son was martyred in this war,” said Rami Nofal, a displaced man from Gaza City.
Masked militants appeared at some celebrations, where crowds chanted slogans in support of them, according to Associated Press reporters in Gaza. The Hamas-run police began deploying in public after mostly lying low due to Israeli airstrikes.
Some families set off for home on foot, their belongings loaded on donkey carts.
In the southern city of Rafah, residents returned to find massive destruction. Some found human remains in the rubble, including skulls.
“It’s like you see in a Hollywood horror movie,” resident Mohamed Abu Taha said as he inspected the ruins of his family’s home.
Already, Israeli forces were pulling back from areas. Residents of Beit Lahiya and Jabaliya in northern Gaza told the AP they didn’t see Israeli troops there.
One resident said they saw bodies in the streets that appeared to have been there for weeks.
Israelis divided over deal
In Israel, people remained divided over the agreement.
Asher Pizem, 35, from the city of Sderot, said the deal had merely postponed the next confrontation with Hamas. He also criticized Israel for allowing aid into Gaza, saying it would contribute to the militant group’s revival.
“They will take the time and attack again,” he said while viewing Gaza’s smoldering ruins from a small hill in southern Israel with other Israelis gathered there.
When President Joe Biden was asked Sunday whether he has any concerns about Hamas regrouping, he said no.
Immense toll
The toll of the war has been immense, and new details will now emerge. The head of the Rafah municipality in Gaza, Ahmed Al-Sufi, said a large part of the infrastructure, including water, electricity and road networks, was destroyed, in addition to thousands of homes.
There should be a surge of humanitarian aid, with hundreds of trucks entering Gaza daily, far more than Israel allowed before. The UN humanitarian agency said more than 630 trucks with aid entered on Sunday, with at least 300 going to hard-hit northern Gaza.
“This is a moment of tremendous hope,” humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said.
Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up more than half the fatalities but does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the war killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants abducted around 250 others. More than 100 hostages were freed during the weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.
Some 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced. Rebuilding — if the ceasefire reaches its final phase — will take several years at least. Major questions about Gaza’s future, political and otherwise, remain unresolved.


Palestinians trek across rubble to return to their homes as Gaza ceasefire takes hold

Updated 20 January 2025
Follow

Palestinians trek across rubble to return to their homes as Gaza ceasefire takes hold

  • Israel’s offensive has killed over 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children
  • People celebrate despite vast scale of destruction and uncertain prospects for rebuilding, says one Gazan 

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip: Even before the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was fully in place Sunday, Palestinians in the war-battered Gaza Strip began to return to the remains of the homes they had evacuated during the 15-month war.
Majida Abu Jarad made quick work of packing the contents of her family’s tent in the sprawling tent city of Muwasi, just north of the strip’s southern border with Egypt.
At the start of the war, they were forced to flee their house in Gaza’s northern town of Beit Hanoun, where they used to gather around the kitchen table or on the roof on summer evenings amid the scent of roses and jasmine.
The house from those fond memories is gone, and for the past year, Abu Jarad, her husband and their six daughters have trekked the length of the Gaza Strip, following one evacuation order after another by the Israeli military.
Seven times they fled, she said, and each time, their lives became more unrecognizable to them as they crowded with strangers to sleep in a school classroom, searching for water in a vast tent camp or sleeping on the street.
Now the family is preparing to begin the trek home — or to whatever remains of it — and to reunite with relatives who remained in the north.
“As soon as they said that the truce would start on Sunday, we started packing our bags and deciding what we would take, not caring that we would still be living in tents,” Abu Jarad said.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. Over 110,000 Palestinians have been wounded, it said. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The Israeli military’s bombardment has flattened large swaths of Gaza and displaced 1.9 million of its 2.3 million residents.
Even before the ceasefire officially took effect — and as tank shelling continued overnight and into the morning — many Palestinians began trekking through the wreckage to reach their homes, some on foot and others hauling their belongings on donkey carts.
“They’re returning to retrieve their loved ones under the rubble,” said Mohamed Mahdi, a displaced Palestinian and father of two. He was forced to leave his three-story home in Gaza City’s southeastern Zaytoun neighborhood a few months ago,
Mahdi managed to reach his home Sunday morning, walking amid the rubble from western Gaza. On the road he said he saw the Hamas-run police force being deployed to the streets in Gaza City, helping people returning to their homes.
Despite the vast scale of the destruction and uncertain prospects for rebuilding, “people were celebrating,” he said. “They are happy. They started clearing the streets and removing the rubble of their homes. It’s a moment they’ve waited for 15 months.”
Um Saber, a 48-year-old widow and mother of six children, returned to her hometown of Beit Lahiya. She asked to be identified only by her honorific, meaning “mother of Saber,” out of safety concerns.
Speaking by phone, she said her family had found bodies in the street as they trekked home, some of whom appeared to have been lying in the open for weeks.
When they reached Beit Lahiya, they found their home and much of the surrounding area reduced to rubble, she said. Some families immediately began digging through the debris in search of missing loved ones. Others began trying to clear areas where they could set up tents.
Um Saber said she also found the area’s Kamal Adwan hospital “completely destroyed.”
“It’s no longer a hospital at all,” she said. “They destroyed everything.”
The hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli forces waging an offensive in largely isolated northern Gaza against Hamas fighters it says have regrouped.
The military has claimed that Hamas militants operate inside Kamal Adwan, which hospital officials have denied.
In Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, residents returned to find massive destruction across the city that was once a hub for displaced families fleeing Israel’s bombardment elsewhere in the Palestinian enclave. Some found human remains amid the rubble of houses and the streets.
“It’s an indescribable scene. It’s like you see a Hollywood horror movie,” said Mohamed Abu Taha, a Rafah resident, speaking to The Associated Press as he and his brother were inspecting his family home in the city’s Salam neighborhood. “Flattened houses, human remains, skulls and other body parts, in the street and in the rubble.”
He shared footage of piles of rubble he said had been his family’s house. “I want to know how they destroyed our home.”
The returns come amid looming uncertainty regarding whether the ceasefire deal will bring more than a temporary halt to the fighting, who will govern the enclave and how it will be rebuilt.
Not all families will be able to return home immediately. Under the terms of the deal, returning displaced people will only be able to cross the Netzarim corridor from south to north beginning seven days into the ceasefire.
And those who do return may face a long wait to rebuild their houses.
The United Nations has said that reconstruction could take more than 350 years if Gaza remains under an Israeli blockade. Using satellite data, the United Nations estimated last month that 69 percent of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including over 245,000 homes. With over 100 trucks working full-time, it would take more than 15 years just to clear the rubble away,
But for many families, the immediate relief overrode fears about the future.
“We will remain in a tent, but the difference is that the bleeding will stop, the fear will stop, and we will sleep reassured,” Abu Jarad said.


Who are the Israelis released on the first day of the ceasefire?

(Clockwise) Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher. (AP file photo)
Updated 20 January 2025
Follow

Who are the Israelis released on the first day of the ceasefire?

  • Around 100 hostages still remain in Gaza, after the rest were released, rescued, or their bodies were recovered

JERUSALEM: Three hostages held by Hamas were released Sunday after 471 days in captivity as part of a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. A gradual release of dozens of captives over the next several weeks has been agreed on.
The truce and release of hostages sparked hope and trepidation among Israelis. Many fear that the three-phase deal could collapse before all the hostages return, or that they will arrive in poor health. Others worry that the number of captives who have died is more than predicted.
Some 250 people were kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered 15 months of war. Around 100 hostages still remain in Gaza, after the rest were released, rescued, or their bodies were recovered.
Hours before Sunday’s ceasefire, which many hope is the first step to end the war, Israel announced that it had retrieved the body of Oron Shaul, a soldier who was killed in the 2014 Israel-Hamas war and whose remains have been held by the militants since then.
Here’s a look at the three hostages released on Sunday:
Romi Gonen, 24
Romi Gonen was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That morning, Gonen’s mother, Merav, and her eldest daughter spent nearly five hours speaking to Gonen as militants marauded through the festival grounds. Gonen told her family that roads clogged with abandoned cars made escape impossible and that she would seek shelter in some bushes.
Then she said words that continue to echo in her mother’s head every day. “Mommy I was shot, the car was shot, everybody was shot. ... I am wounded and bleeding. Mommy, I think I’m going to die,” she recounted Romi as saying, in a press conference a few weeks after the abduction.
At a loss for what to do, Merav Gonen tried to convince her daughter that she wasn’t going to die, to start breathing and treat her wounded friends. According to Merav, Romi’s last word during the call was a shriek of “Mommy!” as approaching gunfire and the men’s shouts drowned out everything.
Then the phone shut off. Israeli authorities identified her phone’s location in Gaza.
Over the past 15 months, Merav Gonen has been one of the most outspoken voices advocating for the return of the hostages, appearing nearly daily on Israeli news programs and traveling abroad on missions.
“We are doing everything we can so the world will not forget,” she told The Associated Press on the six-month anniversary of Hamas’ attack. “Every day we wake up and take a big breath, deep breath, and continue walking, continue doing the things that will bring her back.”
Emily Damari, 28
Emily Damari is a British-Israeli citizen kidnapped from her apartment on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a communal farming village hit hard by Hamas’ assault. She lived in a small apartment in a neighborhood for young adults, the closest part of the kibbutz to Gaza. Militants broke through the border fence of the kibbutz and ransacked the neighborhood.
Damari’s mother, Mandy, said she loves music, traveling, soccer, good food, karaoke and hats. Kibbutz Kfar Aza said that Damari was often the “glue that held her close-knit friend group together” and she was always organizing gatherings of friends around the best barbecue corner in the entire kibbutz.
On Sunday, Mandy released a statement of thanks for supporters “who never stopped saying her name.”
“After 471 days Emily is finally home,” she said.
Doron Steinbrecher, 31
Doron Steinbrecher is a veterinary nurse who loves animals, and a neighbor to Damari in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Steinbrecher holds both Israeli and Romanian citizenship.
At 10:20 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2023, Steinbrecher called her mother. “Mom, I’m scared. I’m hiding under the bed and I hear them trying to enter my apartment,” her brother, Dor, recalled. She was able to send a voice message to her friends. “They’ve got me! They’ve got me! They’ve got me!” in the moments of her abduction.
That message was key in helping her family understand that Doron had been kidnapped.
Steinbrecher was featured in a video released by Hamas on Jan. 26, 2024, along with two female Israeli soldiers. Her brother said the video gave them hope that she was alive but sparked concern because she looked tired, weak, and gaunt.
In total, militants killed 64 people and 22 soldiers, and kidnapped 19 people from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7. With the return of Steinbrecher and Damari, there are still three members of the kibbutz held in Gaza: American-Israeli Keith Siegel, 65, and twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 27.
Remains of Oron Shaul, 20

This undated photo provided by Hostages Family Forum shows Israeli soldier Oron Shaul, who was killed during the 2014 war and whose body has been held by Hamas until Israeli soldiers recovered his body on January 19, 2025. (AP)

Oron Shaul was a soldier killed on July 20, 2014, during fighting between Israel and Hamas. His body and that of another soldier, Hadar Goldin, had been held by militants since then despite a public campaign to return them by their families.
The Hostages Families Forum, which represents relatives of the captives, called the Shaul family an “inseparable part” of the group.
Militants still hold the bodies of Goldin as well as two Israelis who crossed into Gaza in 2014 and 2015 on their own.