Lured Indian workers held hostage for a month in West Bank, rescued by Israel

Jerusalem, Mar 6 (PTI) Ten construction workers from India were rescued overnight from a West Bank village where they had been held for over a month after being stripped of their passports, Israeli Population and Immigration Authority was quoted by local media as saying on Thursday.

Palestinians had lured the workers to the West Bank village of al-Zaayem with the promise of work and then taken their passports and tried to use them to cross into Israel, the authorities were quoted by Times of Israel as saying.

The workers, who had originally come to Israel to work in the construction industry, were rescued in an overnight operation led by the Population and Immigration authority together with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and the Justice Ministry, the report said.

They have been transferred to a safe location until their employment status is determined, it added.

The IDF is said to have identified the illicit use of the passports and later returned them to their owners.

News portal Ynetnews reported that the Palestinians used the Indian passports to easily cross checkpoints into Israel.

Israeli forces intercepted some suspects at a checkpoint which led to the recovery of the Indian workers, Ynetnews said.

Some 16,000 workers from India are said to have come to Israel to work in the construction industry in the last one year to fill a void left after tens of thousands of Palestinian construction workers were barred from entering Israel after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack. PTI