Beer Yaakov/ Israel: Around 16,000 workers from India joined construction works in Israel over the past year, filling the void created by thousands of Palestinian construction workers who were barred from entering the country after the war broke out in Gaza, news agency AFP reported.
One of the Indian workers, identified as Raju Nishad, works at a neighbourhood in central Israel's town of Beer Yaakov where there would have filled with labourers speaking Arabic, if there was no war.
Now the place is teeming with workers speaking Hindi, Hebrew and even Mandarin, according to the report.
High earnings, three times what they can earn back home, according to the report, drive people to work in Israel where they have to run to safety every time they hear air raid warning.
However, Nishad, 35, reportedly claimed that ‘There's nothing to be afraid of here’, adding that ‘once it (the siren) stops, we just resume our work’.
Since the war broke out, recruiters have been bringing in to the country more Indians to work in construction sector.
Previously, Indian were mostly employed as caregivers for elderly Israelis and many others work ‘as diamond traders and IT professionals’.
It is reported that Israel has plans to recruit thousand more workers to the country.
The war in Gaza, triggered after the Hamas attack in Israel, has led to Israel’s confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Huthi rebels in Yemen.