NEW DELHI: After six-and-a-half years of working in Israel, Reetaraj Gurung had planned to return home to Siliguri, West Bengal, on 15 June to reunite with her husband and daughter. However, her journey was disrupted when Israel launched air strikes on Iran just two days earlier, leading to the closure of airspace over Israel, Jordan, Iran, and Iraq.
Reetaraj finally made it home on Tuesday (24 June) on an evacuation flight from Jordan, facilitated by the Indian government. She had been employed as a caregiver for a 104-year-old woman in Jerusalem.
Describing the situation in Israel over the past fortnight, she said: “The past 12 days have been extremely tough. Whenever sirens blared in the streets, we were instructed to immediately hide in bunkers. These alarms would go off multiple times a day. If it happened during the day, I would rush with my patient in a wheelchair. But at night, I was told to just save myself.”
Expressing relief, she added, “I feel so much at peace now. I’m grateful to see my family again and thank the Indian government for bearing all expenses. They arranged buses to Jordan and a flight to Delhi.”
Pashi Sherpa, another caregiver from Sikkim who looks after a 32-year-old disabled man in Haifa, is still awaiting evacuation. “I’ve worked in Israel since 2012. I lost my husband and am supporting my two daughters alone. The last week has been terrifying. At all hours, we hear alarms and rush for shelter. My mother-in-law has passed away in Gangtok, and I hope I can return home soon,” she said.
According to a source at the Indian Embassy in Israel, nearly 40,000 Indians are currently residing in the country. Of these, around 20,000 work as caregivers or domestic workers, while 13,000 are employed in the construction sector. The remaining include students pursuing PhD and post-doctoral studies.
The official confirmed that 827 Indians have returned to India between 22–24 June via four evacuation flights under ‘Operation Sindhu Israel,’ coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs. Evacuees were transported by road to Jordan or Egypt, from where special flights were arranged. No flights were operated on Wednesday due to a ceasefire declared the previous night.
“This conflict is different,” the source said. “Unlike previous wars that affected the northern (Lebanon border) or southern (Gaza border) regions, this time even Tel Aviv has been targeted. There’s widespread panic among both Indians and Israelis.”
Naren Thapa, founder of the ‘IGCI Care Foundation’—an NGO that supports Indian workers in Israel—highlighted the growing presence of Indians in the country. “Following the Hamas attack on October 7 2023, demand for Indian workers surged. Around 10,000 construction workers and caregivers have arrived in the past two years. The Indian government is highly supportive and offers prompt assistance to anyone seeking to leave.”
However, not all have welcomed the deployment of Indian workers to conflict zones. Rajiv Dimri, General Secretary of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions, criticised the move: “We oppose sending 12,000 Indian workers to a war-torn country like Israel to replace Palestinian labourers. The government must prioritise their safe repatriation with the same urgency shown in evacuating Indian students from Iran.”