• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A caregiver from Negros Occidental, Loreta Villarin Alacre, was among the Filipinos reported missing in Israel, which has declared a state of war after the attack of Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Her elder sister Annabella Alacre yesterday said that Loreta, 49, who had been working for 15 years in Haifa and Tel Aviv, remains unreachable as of this time.
The Alacres are from Sitio Camay-an, Barangay Cadiz Viejo, Cadiz City.
Hamas fighters attacked the site of the music festival that Loreta and her fellow caregivers were attending on Oct. 9.
A day before she went missing, Annabella said they were able to contact her as it was her day off, and she was in a music festival near the Gaza Strip boundary.
She added that reports that her sister has also been taken captive remains unconfirmed.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that two Filipinos were killed amid the fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters.
Three Filipinos have remained missing, while 26 have been rescued by Israeli security.
About 150 Filipinos are reportedly residing in Gaza.
Noam Solomon, the employer of Loreta, has posted on her social media account about her missing caregiver.
On Facebook, Solomon described “Lori”, as she called her, as a dedicated caregiver for six years now.
In a statement, the Department of Migrant Workers, the Philippine Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel and the Migrant Workers Office Israel said they are closely monitoring the situation of Filipinos in affected areas in the wake of the “state of war alert” issued by the Israel’s Home Front Command. | GB
