New Delhi: Less than a year after signing an agreement on facilitating Indian workers in Israel, the first group of more than 60 Indian construction workers have left on Tuesday (April 2) night to go to the mid-eastern state, which is currently conducting a six-month long military operation in Gaza.
On Tuesday (April 2), Israeli ambassador Naor Gilon posted photos of an event to send off the first batch of Indian construction workers “under the G2G agreement”.
Today we had a farewell event from the first batch of 60+ Indian construction workers going to Israel under the G2G agreement.
This is an outcome of hard work of many, including @NSDCINDIA.
I’m sure that the workers become ‘ambassadors’ of the great P2P relations between 🇮🇳🇮🇱. pic.twitter.com/S94OQz4BTGAdvertisement— Naor Gilon (@NaorGilon) April 2, 2024
He also stated that the facilitation was the result of the “hard work” of other officials, including members of India’s National Skill Development Corporation.
The announcement also came less than a month after the Indian embassy had to issue an advisory when a citizen was killed in a Hezbollah rocket strike in northern Israel.
India informed all its nationals working in Israel, “especially those working in or visiting border areas in the north and south”, that they were “advised to relocate to safe areas within Israel”.
During Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen’s visit to India in May 2023, both countries signed a framework agreement that would facilitate 42,000 Indian workers to be brought to Israel, out of which 34,000 would be in the construction industry.
Until now, most Indian workers in Israel have been caregivers, accounting for the majority of the 18,000 nationals in the country.
The Wire had reported in January from a recruitment camp in Haryana for construction workers in Israel.
Till now, more than 32,000 people have been killed since Israel began its military operation in the Gaza strip following Hamas’ terror attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had initially expressed “solidarity” with Israel after the October 7 attack.
India had also abstained on the first UN General Assembly resolution that called for a humanitarian pause in Israel’s military action.
However, India had to nuance its position as the Gaza toll climbed higher.
India voted in favour of the UNGA resolution last December that called on Israel to halt its fighting to allow for humanitarian assistance.
It also reiterated its support for the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
