Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 11) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the Philippines will always stand with Israel in the face of “terrorist attacks” by militant group Hamas.
According to the Presidential Communications Office, Marcos made the statement when he met with Israeli Ambassador Ilan Fluss in Malacañang Wednesday afternoon.
Marcos expressed his gratitude to the Israeli government for rescuing over 20 Filipinos and bringing them to safety, while he stressed his concern for the three Filipinos who remain unaccounted for, said the PCO.
Fluss guaranteed that Israel is doing all it can to ensure the safety of Filipinos in the war-torn country.
Two Filipinos were killed amid the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict, as confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs earlier.
Alert Level 2 is currently up in Israel, which means non-essential movements are restricted among Filipinos there.
The Philippines has condemned Hamas attacks, which began on Saturday during Simchat Torah, a peaceful Jewish celebration, and killed thousands.
On Feb. 26, 1958, the Philippines and Israel signed a Treaty of Friendship, establishing full diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In an interview on CNN Philippines’ Politics As Usual, Israel Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Ester Buzgan described Hamas attacks as a “massacre.”
“When you target civilians, you’re not an army,\” Buzgan said. \”When you kill babies, hurt other people, that’s terror.“
\”Hamas is not Palestine,\” she also said. \”They do not care about their own people. They care about the Jewish genocide.”
For Hadje Cresencio Sadje, an associate member of Center for Palestine Studies of the University of London, the violence on both sides should be condemned.
“If you call [Hamas attacks] inhumane, you also need to condemn the Israeli soldiers now bombing civilian buildings,” he said.
Israeli forces have been hammering Gaza with airstrikes, hitting hundreds of targets and reducing neighborhoods to rubble, following unprecedented Hamas terror attacks on Israel.
