MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is closely monitoring the escalating conflict in the Palestine-controlled Gaza, but said it will not issue a deployment ban in Israel just yet.POEA administrator Jennifer Manalili said the POEA cannot issue a ban without consultation from other government agencies like the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. She said the POEA is being kept updated on the situation in case overseas Filipino workers get trapped in the crossfire between Hamas and Israeli fighters. “Since the outbreak of violence there, we check from time to time with our labor attaché so we can be properly advised on the condition of our OFWs as well as on the actions to take,” Manalili said in a statement. The bloodiest conflict yet between Israel and Hamas, which the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization, has claimed over 400 lives. The fighting is poised to intensify as the Israeli airstrikes have killed a senior Hamas leader on Thursday. Labor officials said there are 123 Filipino nationals in Gaza and 39,000 OFWs in Israel. OWWA administrator Carmelita Dimzon said Filipinos in Gaza do not want to be repatriated to the Philippines even as the airstrikes pound Gaza into ruins. Dimzon said most of the Filipinos in the Palestinian territory are women who have married Palestinians and have settled in Gaza with their families. The OFWs in Israel, on the other hand, are concentrated in the capital of Tel Aviv and out of reach from the bombings, labor officials said. Most of the OFWs in Israel work as caregivers and nurses. | 
