Have asked Israel to ensure safety of Indian workers, says MEA

New Delhi, April 4

A day after the first batch of over 60 Indian workers arrived in Tel Aviv, the government said their safety concerns were being met by asking the Israeli authorities to ensure their security. Another 850 are scheduled to leave in batches during this month, also as part of a government-to-government arrangement like the first batch.

“For us, their safety is important. We have urged Israeli authorities to do their best to take care of their safety and well-being,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing when asked about the safety of workers being sent to Israel when the government had earlier launched an evacuation operation from the country and an Indian had died in Hezbollah shelling.

Asked if the safety of Indian workers on construction projects was endangered, Jaiswal suggested that they were recruited for “economic projects”, thus indicating that they might not work on building new Israeli settlements that were in the range of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Last year, Israel had signed an agreement with India to absorb 42,000 workers for working in the fields of construction and nursing after Gaza residents were banned and several others had fled after hostilities broke out in October last year. The news broke after Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon posted on X about a farewell event for the first batch of over 60 Indian construction workers going to Israel under the G2G agreement.