The evacuation of foreign nationals, including six Filipinos, from Gaza has been halted due to the "dangerous and dire" security situation in Israel’s war zone, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said six Filipinos, including four children and a nun, were not able to join the Red Cross convoy taking them to the Eretz border crossing because of the current security situation near where they are staying.

"Upon the advice of security officials, all Filipino nationals were told to remain indoors. No evacuation of foreign nationals from Gaza has taken place today," he said in a text message forwarded by DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal.

He assured that after the situation stabilizes, the repatriation of those who willing to be flown back home will continue.

Only six Filipinos, including four children and their mother, agreed to leave troubled Gaza Strip, the DFA said, as it maintained that it won’t impose a deployment ban on Filipino workers against Israel.

Because of the "very, very fluid" situation in Gaza, only six of the 13 Filipino nationals who decided to be planed back home will be repatriated, Conejos said.

"One family backed out. Only one family consisting of five Filipinos and one nun will leave Gaza," he said in a press conference while reading a message from Philippine Ambassador to Israel Petronila Garcia.

The group will travel by land from Gaza to Erezt border then to King Hussain-Allenby Bridge, border of Amman, Jordan where Royal Jordanian Airlines is expected to airlift them via Bangkok.

He said most of the Filipinos now in Gaza wanted to stay with their Palestinian husbands. They were thinking of their children and their school. They are also worried because they don’t have any livelihood in the Philippines, Conejos said.

There are about 108 Filipinos in Gaza, of which one is an overseas Filipino worker. In southern Israel, there are some 1,000 to 1,500 Filipinos, mostly working as caregivers.

President Arroyo yesterday ordered the creation of a crisis committee to handle the "crisis fallout" for the safety of Filipino workers in Gaza.

Mrs. Arroyo issued the directive during her four-day working swing in Western and Northern Mindanao regions where she inspected several infrastructure and livelihood projects.

Sen. Loren Legarda said yesterday that the Philippines must add its voice to the mounting clamor from many countries for the immediate cessation of hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. "The community of nations must move for an immediate ceasefire, which is the first step to resolving the problem," she added.

Rep. Mujiv Hataman of the Anak Mindanao party-list organization called on other leaders and governments to pressure Israel to stop its assault on Gaza. "And with much disappointment," he said, "our government, a devoted ally of the United States in the so-called war against terror, is deafeningly silent."

Sheikh Muhammad Muntassir, who chairs the Da’wah (Islamic Call) Committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), said Israel deserves the world’s highest condemnation for the killing of defenseless civilians and occupying illegally the lands of the Palestinians.

In Makati City, about 100 Muslim Filipino youth belonging to the Anak ng Mindanao (AMIN) partylist group staged a demonstration yesterday in front of the Israeli Embassy. Kashim Candido, spokesman of AMIN-National Capital Region, said the Moro youths carried placards that said: "Free Palestine," "Israel Terrorist," and "Free our Bangsamoro Homeland."

The Assalam Bangsamoro People’s Association (ABPA) headed by Datu Pendatun Disimban is planning to hold another protest rally in front of the Israeli Embassy this week."We are calling on all freedom-loving Filipinos and those who abhor the systematic killing now being committed against Palestinians to join the rally on Thursday," said Disimban.

Former House Deputy Speaker Gerry Salapuddin said the Muslim world’s anger and hatred is vented not only on Israel, but also to the United States for its support of the Jewish state. "Due to the failure of the US and the international community to create a genuine Palestinian state, Islamic extremism has spread to many Muslim countries as sympathy for the Palestinian cause," he said.