By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
A Negrense overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who has been reportedly missing, is feared to have been taken captive by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, after an attack at a music festival in southern Israel over the weekend.
The missing Negrense OFW was caregiver Loreta Alacre, a resident of Barangay Cadiz Viejo in Negros Occidental’s Cadiz City.
In a radio interview yesterday morning, Anabella Alacre said her sister attended the Tribe of Nova Music Festival in Kibbutz Re’im town in southern Israel, located six kilometers east of the Hamas-held Gaza Strip.
International news agencies reported that the music festival was attacked by Hamas gunmen on Saturday, October 7, killing at least 260 people, while some have been taken captive and were sent to Gaza as hostages.
In a separate report on Bombo Radyo, Rosalina Diamante, an OFW and a resident of Silay City, said her last contact with Loreta before the incident was last October 6.
Diamante received a message from Loreta, stating that she would go out with her Chinese boyfriend to the music festival.
She said, from what she has gathered so far, Loreta and her boyfriend were believed to have been captured by Hamas while inside their vehicle.
Her boyfriend was believed to be shot, but survived after being mistakenly identified as dead by the Hamas gunmen.
Diamante said he was rescued by the responding Israeli forces and was taken to a hospital in Ashkelon City.
However, she said they have not yet been able to coordinate with Loreta’s boyfriend to find out what really happened, as Israeli authorities have prohibited them from entering the hospital.
Loreta was believed to be taken captive by the Hamas militants.
Meanwhile, the Alacre family refused to believe that Loreta had been taken captive by Hamas, pointing out the lack of evidence.
They further added that they would wait for a statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on the status of their kin instead.
The DFA has yet to confirm Loreta’s status as of press time, and if there were Filipinos held captive by Hamas.
Aside from Loreta, five other Filipinos remain unaccounted for.
The DFA and the Embassy of Israel in the Philippines confirmed yesterday that two Filipinos have been killed during the attacks over the weekend.
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has deplored the deaths of the two Filipinos in Israel, stating that his heart was heavy upon hearing confirmation of their deaths.
Marcos said the country condemns these killings and stands firmly against the ongoing terror and violence.
The president has also pledged continued support to Filipinos affected by the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
At least 38 Filipinos in the Gaza Strip are now seeking repatriation.
There are more than 30,000 OFWs working in Israel and 137 in the Gaza Strip, DFA data showed.
Earlier this week, a family of an OFW male caregiver sought the help of the Philippine government after they confirmed spotting him in a video released by Hamas on social media.
Hamas has threatened that they will begin executing hostages if Israel does not halt its airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.
However, it is not determined if the threats also cover for the dozens of foreign nationals taken captive by the group.
On the other hand, the Negros Occidental provincial government has already set up a public assistance desk on the second floor of the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City, to assist families of Negrense OFWs working in Israel or in the Gaza Strip affected by the war./DGB, WDJ