2 Indians killed in Israel-Hamas conflict, three injured, RS told
Kirti Vardhan Singh was responding to CPI(M) MP PP Suneer’s question about the number and details of Indian citizens killed or injured in the conflict since October 7, 2023.
New Delhi Two Indians have been killed and three others were injured in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, minister of state for external affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told the Rajya Sabha in a written response on Thursday.
One person was killed in an attack “from Lebanon” in March 2024 and another in Gaza in May 2024, Singh said. The minister added that one Indian national was injured in rocket fire from Gaza on October 7, 2023, while two others were injured in an attack from Lebanon in March 2024.
In four of the five cases cited by Singh, the government specified the origin of the attack. In the fifth case, ostensibly referring to the May 2024 death of Colonel Waibhav Anil Kale (retd) who was working for the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (DSS), the origin of the attack was not specified in the answer.
The UN, at the time, had said that the shots that hit the UN vehicle carrying Kale were fired from an Israeli tank, according to a BBC report. Israeli newspaper Haaretz had reported that an Israeli Defence Forces investigation had also found that Israeli forces had fired at Kale’s UN vehicle, killing him and injuring another UN worker, a Jordanian national.
Singh was responding to CPI(M) MP PP Suneer’s question about the number and details of Indian citizens killed or injured in the conflict since October 7, 2023, including “details of perpetrators and the action taken by the Central Government against them”. Suneer had also asked if the government had provided any compensation to the families of those who were killed or injured.
“Our Embassy in Israel coordinates with Israeli authorities for safety and security of Indian nationals in Israel and to ensure proper medical treatment to the injured and compensation for victims,” Singh said in his response, without giving any specifics. He also did not specify if the Indian government had raised this issue with the perpetrators.
32,000 Indian workers in Israel
In the same response, Singh said that as of October 2024, there were about 32,000 Indian workers in Israel, of which 12,000 workers reached the country after October 2023. These workers reached through both government-to-government route and through private channels.
Suneer had asked for the number of Indian workers in Israel form different occupations, including those who went to Israel after “the beginning of Israel-Hamas conflict on 7 October 2023”.
In response to Suneer’s question about whether the labour rights of Indian workers are protected in Israel through the central government, Singh cited the Framework Agreement and Implementation Protocols signed with Israel as per which “Indian workers shall enjoy equal treatment with respect to labour rights as Israeli citizens and shall be provided with proper lodging, medical insurance, and relevant social security coverage.”
In May 2023, in New Delhi, Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Israeli foreign minister Eliyahu Cohen had signed ‘Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Temporary Employment of Workers in Specific Labour Market Sectors in Israel’ for the recruitment of 34,000 construction workers and 8,000 caregivers from India.
Subsequently, on November 3, 2023, a memorandum of understanding concerning India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority which was signed by the two governments. This MoU is valid until November 3, 2026.
In response to a question by SP MPs Ramji Lal Suman and Javed Ali Khan, Singh said that of the 12,000 Indians who reached Israel after October 2023, 6,365 Indians reached Israel through the “bilateral framework signed in November 2023” while others arrived via “private channels”. Of the 12,000 workers, about 220 returned to India, “primarily due to skill mismatch and language barriers”.
Of the 6,365 Indian workers who went to Israel under the bilateral agreement, at 5,528, the maximum workers were from Uttar Pradesh followed by Telangana (306), Haryana (179), Bihar (177), and West Bengal (44), Singh said.
As per MSDE’s website, “MSDE has signed protocol agreements for enabling skilled mobility from India in two sectors viz. Construction (Implementation Protocol A) and Home-based Caregiver (Implementation Protocol B). The protocols seeks [sic] to operationalize the Framework Agreement by dealing with aspects like costs, employment, support, governing framework etc. of mobility in the two sectors from India. The responsibility of implementing the protocols has been delegated to NSDC [National Skill Development Corporation].”
In December 2023, the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority met with NSDC “to streamline the process of recruitment”.
After Singh’s response, Suneer, in a statement said, “The situation in Israel-Palestine war zone is extremely volatile. Instead of working for peace and stability in West Asia, the BJP government is enabling the Israeli war machine by risking the lives of desperate Indian workers who are frustrated with the employment situation in India. This attempt to please Israel is in direct contradiction of India’s stated position of support to the just Palestinian cause. … Despite the severity of the situation, the BJP government is sending more and more Indians, risking their lives.”
