Between sirens and care: Filipino caregivers dodge missiles in Israel

JERUSALEM/TEL AVIV - On that tense night in Jerusalem's King George neighborhood in mid-June, the world felt narrower for Filipino caregivers Mildred D. Yambao, 38, and Lucy L. Gonzalez, 48.

- By Norman P. Aquino

Their phones buzzed, alerting them about a rocket attack. Moments later, sirens blared, and panic and confusion ensued. And then, a harsh realization: "We didn't even know exactly where the nearest bomb shelter was," Ms. Yambao told Business World while resting at a park in Jerusalem on a Saturday afternoon.

The missile strikes were part of a broader escalation in late 2024 when Iran, in support of its regional allies, targeted central Israel - including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv - with rockets and drones, marking a stark shift from prior flareups that mostly focused around the Gaza Strip.

Unlike the familiar shelling from Gaza that Ms. Yambao, who works in Ashdod near the Gaza Strip, had grown accustomed to, these longer-range strikes signified an expanded front and destabilized a region already worn by repeated cycles of conflict.

The war in Gaza, triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, continues to cast a long shadow.

More than 1,200 people were killed that day, including one Filipino worker, while another Filipino survived after being kidnapped and held in Gaza for weeks before release.

Hamas militants took hostage 251 civilians from various Israeli kibbutzes near the Gaza Strip. To date, about 50 hostages remain in Gaza only 20 of them are probably still alive, according to an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson with their fate a persistent point of tension in peace negotiations.

More than 61,000 Palestinians have died amid Israel's retaliatory attacks, according to the United Nations, citing the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Among the Filipino caregivers caught in that violent spiral was Monica L. Biboso, who worked in Kibbutz Be'eri, one of the hardesthit communities during the Oct. 7 assault. When Hamas militants stormed the kibbutz, the Iloilo native, who has kids aged 6 and 8 years back home, was inside her employer's home caring for an elderly patient.