At least 45 overseas Filipinos in Lebanon are set to be repatriated this week amid increased tensions between Lebanon and Israeli forces.

Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said 15 Filipinos in Lebanon were repatriated over the weekend with another 45 set to avail of the voluntary repatriation this week.

All Filipinos who are repatriated from Lebanon will receive P100,000 from the DMW and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

“The good news is there are no Filipinos living at the border in southern Lebanon and northern Israel but there are a few hundred living in the southern cities,” he said in a TeleRadyo Serbisyo interview.

There are currently 11,3000 Filipinos in Lebanon, most of whom are living in or near the capital of Beirut.

Cacdac said voluntary repatriation in Lebanon started in October last year after the Islamist militant group Hamas launched a large-scale attack on Israel on October 7.

The Philippine Embassy in Lebanon is preparing evacuation routes in case the situation escalates to Alert Level 4 or mandatory repatriation. 

Agencies in the Philippines are ready to offer onsite, repatriation, and arrival assistance for returning Filipinos.

The cross-border violence between Lebanon and Israel has killed 580 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but including at least 128 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, 22 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed, according to army figures.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006. -- with Agence France-Presse

Filipinos urged to evacuate Lebanon amid escalating tensions