Israeli authorities find 10 missing Indian construction workers in West Bank
Tel Aviv: According to the Indian Embassy in Israel, Israeli officials have located and returned ten Indian construction workers who went missing in the West Bank. The embassy said it was in contact with Israeli officials and asked them to safeguard their safety and well-being while the situation is being examined.
The Indian Embassy in Israel said, X: “Israeli authorities have located and returned ten Indian construction workers who went missing to the West Bank. The Embassy is in contact with the Israeli authorities and has asked them to safeguard their safety and well-being while the situation is still being investigated.
According to The Times of Israel, which cited the Population and Immigration Authority, up to ten Indian laborers were freed overnight from a West Bank hamlet where they had been detained for more than a month.
The authority said that Palestinians had used promises of employment to entice workers to the West Bank hamlet of al-Zaayem, then confiscated their passports and tried to use them to enter Israel.
According to The Times of Israel, the authorities, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and the Justice Ministry carried out the midnight operation to rescue laborers who had traveled to Israel to work in the construction industry. Until their job status is established, the workers have been relocated to a secure area.
After identifying the illegal usage of the passports, the IDF gave them back to their owners. The report claims that over 16,000 laborers have entered Israel from India in 2024 as part of an effort by the Israeli government to cover a gap left by the exclusion of tens of thousands of Palestinian construction workers from Israel after the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault.
