Unang Balita is the news segment of GMA Network's daily morning program, Unang Hirit. It's anchored by Arnold Clavio, Susan Enriquez, Ivan Mayrina, and Mariz Umali, and airs on GMA-7 Mondays to Fridays at 5:30 AM (PHL Time). For more videos from Unang Balita, visit http://www.gmanetwork.com/unangbalita.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 While the war between Hamas group and Israeli forces is continuing,
00:04 thousands of civilians are being held captive,
00:07 despite the fact that there are a lot of Filipinos.
00:09 We will talk about that later this morning.
00:12 Palestinian Ambassador to the Philippines, Saleh Mohamed.
00:14 Ambassador, good morning.
00:16 Good morning, good morning, Ivan.
00:19 Ambassador, there are Filipinos living in the Gaza Strip
00:23 and some of them, according to our Department of Foreign Affairs,
00:26 have requested repatriation.
00:27 Is there a way to get them out safely?
00:30 Thank you very much for asking this question.
00:35 Yes, I read the statement by DFA
00:38 and I read also the arrangement made there
00:41 through the Philippine Embassy in Amman,
00:44 which covers Palestine, including Gaza.
00:46 There are 137 Filipinos living in Gaza.
00:49 They are just like us, living as also Palestinians.
00:53 They are married to Palestinian citizens with their children.
00:57 We can coordinate in our best ways
01:02 to see if they want to be repatriated individually or group.
01:08 This needs a collective work, actually,
01:10 a collective effort between us, the Philippine government,
01:15 also the government of Israel, and also the government of Egypt.
01:19 Yes, but realistically, Ambassador,
01:22 given the current situation now in the Gaza Strip,
01:24 is it at all possible to get them out safely?
01:27 Unfortunately, you are a media man, Mr. Ewan,
01:32 you see the scenes of destruction resulting from the Israeli warplanes,
01:39 war machines, are really tragic and terrifying.
01:43 There is no safe place left in Gaza.
01:48 Gaza is a very small and tiny strip of land
01:52 with the most densely populated area on earth,
01:57 more than 2 million people.
01:59 Most of them are refugees living there.
02:02 So I am not sure that safety is really...
02:06 But I believe that what is applicable to all people,
02:10 including Palestinians, Filipinos, and other foreign nationals,
02:15 we have the same faith.
02:17 It's very unfortunate that this war has gone mad.
02:21 The message of right to the State of Israel to defend itself
02:27 has been wrongly read, you understand me?
02:31 And they have been unleashed, madly unleashed.
02:35 And you see the number of casualties among the civilians are uncountable.
02:43 They are actually rising by minutes.
02:46 So this is the real situation on the ground right now.
02:50 Besides, it's fully besieged from all borders, sea, land, and air.
02:56 So...
02:57 Ambassador, you mentioned there are 2 million people in the Gaza Strip
03:02 where food, water, and other supplies for the people have been cut off.
03:06 How are they coping and how will they survive?
03:09 I really don't know.
03:11 We just pray that they can manage to survive.
03:13 You know, I mean, this question should be actually asked to the Israeli ambassador,
03:17 how we can just survive that.
03:18 Right.
03:20 To Israel.
03:21 Are there talks for at least a humanitarian corridor?
03:25 How can they leave more than 2 people without water,
03:28 drinking water, without food, without medical supplies?
03:31 You know, I mean, this is just like a massacre.
03:35 Genocide is taking place on the ground.
03:37 Right.
03:38 Against an unarmed civilian population.
03:42 Are there talks, Ambassador, for at least a humanitarian corridor
03:45 to bring in at least food, water, basic necessities?
03:50 Not yet.
03:51 We are trying through the United Nations so far.
03:54 So far, nobody could succeed through international mediators.
03:59 Israel, the occupying power are insisting that the full closure of the Gaza Strip.
04:05 Gaza Strip, by the way, is just 41 kilometers long
04:09 and less than 15 kilometers wide.
04:12 You know, so can you imagine this amount of ammunition drop over Gaza?
04:17 Right.
04:18 So, yeah.
04:19 That is indeed unfortunate, Ambassador, and our hearts go out
04:22 for all the civilian casualties in Palestine.
04:27 And as you said, they are increasing by the minute.
04:30 We all pray that the violence will end soon.
04:32 What is your appeal to the international community?
04:35 Thank you so much.
04:36 My appeal to the international community, including international world leaders
04:44 who gave a wrong message to Israel in the beginning, just on Saturday and Sunday,
04:49 that they understand the right and they support the right of Israel to the victims itself.
04:54 Yes, okay, they were right.
04:56 But see, the wrongly read message resulted in a massacre, in a genocide.
05:01 You know, this is just like a hidden agenda.
05:05 It's a ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from Gaza.
05:10 So please review this message.
05:14 Look at those people who are getting killed.
05:16 They are innocent people.
05:18 So far, we don't know about the militants, but we know that more than 1,300 civilian innocents
05:27 killed, apart from more than 5,000, you know, so far, injured.
05:33 Besides, you know, the bank of targets with the Israeli military are all civilians,
05:41 as you see from the live cable coming from Gaza.
05:47 Salih Muhammad, ambassador of the state of Palestine to the Philippines,
05:51 thank you very much, sir, for joining us this morning.
05:54 Thank you very much for having me.
05:55 Thank you so much.
05:58 (In Tagalog)
06:10 (Music)