Israeli authorities on Friday said 10 Indian construction workers were rescued from a West Bank village where they were held for over a month, media reports said.
Palestinians had lured the workers to the West Bank village of al-Zaayem with promises of work and then taken their passports and tried to use them to cross into Israel, the Population and Immigration Authority told The Times of Israel.
They were rescued during an overnight operation led by the authority together with the IDF and the Justice Ministry.
According to reports, they have been shifted to a safe location.
The IDF had identified the illicit use of the passports and later returned them to their owners, The Times of Israel reported.
Some 16,000 labourers have come to Israel from India in the last year as part of an Israeli government effort to fill a void left when tens of thousands of Palestinian construction workers were barred from entering Israel after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, the newspaper reported.
Indian Embassy In Israel Confirms
The Indian Embassy in Israel confirmed the development and wrote on X: “Israeli authorities traced 10 missing Indian construction workers to West Bank & have brought them back to Israel.”
“While the matter is still under investigation, the Embassy is in touch with the Israeli authorities & have requested to ensure their safety & well-being,” it said.
Trump’s Last Warning To Hamas
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has engaged himself in the talks with Hamas, the militant organisation which is in control of Gaza, to secure the release of American hostages while warning of “hell to pay” if the Palestinian militant group failed to comply, media reports said.
Trump on Wednesday took to social media to demand the release of hostages by Hamas and the return of all those who have been killed in the ongoing conflict.
“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump wrote on social media.
Trump issued the warning just a day after the US officials held talks with Hamas.
The White House had confirmed it saying that Washington was in talks with Hamas.
“These are ongoing talks and discussions. I am not going to detail them here. There are American lives at stake,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt as quoted by The Indian Express.
“The President has proven time and again that dialogue and talking to people around the world is what he believes will serve the best interests of the American people,” she said.
As per reports, Hamas has been holding 59 people hostage since its siege of Gaza in 2006.
Reports claim only 22 of the hostages are alive.
(With inputs from IBNS)
