A total of 14 Filipinos from among the 56 who were earlier reported to cross to Egypt from Gaza returned to the war-torn Palestinian territory after their spouses were not allowed to join them in border crossing, a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official said Friday, Nov. 10.

DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said the 14 Filipinos already crossed the Egyptian immigration and were already on Egyptian soil when they decided to return to Gaza.

"Ngayon lang namin nalaman, within the last 50 minutes, 14 sa ating mga kababayan nagdecide, bumalik na naman sa Gaza kasi hindi nakalusot sa Egyptian control naman yung kanilang may bahay (We just found out in the last 50 minutes that 14 of them returned to Gaza because their spouses did not make it to the Egyptian border control)," de Vega said in an afternoon interview with CNN Philippines.

Nine Palestinian were not allowed to cross to Egypt, so their Filipino spouses and children decided to just remain in Gaza, de Vega said.

"So, medyo disappointed kami (We're a bit disappointed)," he added, saying the Philippine government will then continue monitoring their situation and try to encourage them to leave the territory.

On Friday morning, President Marcos disclosed that 56 Filipinos formed the second batch of Filipino repatriates who left Gaza.

But now, they are only 42 after 14 returned. They are already on their way to Cairo, where they will board a flight bound for Manila, de Vega said.

The 42 new repatriates will join the 34 Filipinos who are set to arrive in the Philippines on Friday afternoon. So far, 74 of the 137 Filipinos were already taken by the government out of the war zone. Two more, who were members of humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, also managed to leave Gaza on Nov. 1.

The Filipino repatriates have already been given financial assistance by the government worth USD 1,000 prior to boarding their flight to Manila, de Vega said.