Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around neighboring Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages MANILA: The Philippines said on Friday it will evacuate 11,000 citizens from Lebanon the moment Israeli forces cross the border to launch a ground offensive against Hezbollah. Israeli bombing of Iran-backed Hezbollah strongholds around neighboring Lebanon has killed hundreds of people this week, while the militant group has retaliated with rocket barrages. Israel has rejected a US-backed 21-day ceasefire call, and its military chief has told soldiers to prepare for a possible ground offensive. “A ground invasion will lead to mandatory repatriation,” Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said at a press conference in Manila, adding the plan was to move thousands out of the country via the sea. He did not provide other details. Manila had earlier urged Filipinos to leave Lebanon before airlines stopped flying to Beirut but most of its citizens did not heed the call, Filipino diplomats said. Millions of Filipinos work overseas — with large numbers concentrated in the Middle East — due to limited job opportunities at home. Around 90 percent of those working in Lebanon are women migrant domestic workers. “To some of them, getting killed in war is preferable to starving to death,” de Vega said, adding there have so far been no Filipino casualties from the Israeli air campaign against Hezbollah. After Israel’s war with Hamas erupted last year following the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 attack, Manila began voluntary repatriations of its citizens from the areas affected by the fighting. The conflict has since spilled into Lebanon, with Israel’s ongoing bombardments in the country raising fears of an all-out regional war in the Middle East. So far, only 500 Filipinos have taken up the government’s offer to leave Lebanon, De Vega said. Filipino ambassador to Beirut Raymond Balatbat said 196 Filipinos have fled southern Lebanon, where the Israeli campaign has been concentrated. Most Filipinos working in the country are based in central Lebanon around Beirut, he added. Anthony Mandap, consul-general at the Philippine embassy in Tel Aviv, said there are no plans as of now to repatriate some 30,000 Filipinos working in Israel.