Telugu construction workers not among the 10 Indians rescued by Israeli authorities from West Bank village

Telugu associations in Israel provide updates on Indian laborers rescued from a village in West Bank, confirming no workers from Telangana or Andhra Pradesh was among the rescued.

Telugu associations in Israel which have gathered preliminary information on the Indian labourers who were traced and rescued by the Israeli authorities from a village in West Bank on Thursday (March 6, 2025) night, said that there were no construction workers either from Telangana or Andhra Pradesh among those rescue.

A representative of the Israel Telangana Association (ITA), when contacted by The Hindu on Friday (March 7, 2025), said that although there are over 500 persons from Telangana alone who have come to Israel to work as construction workers in the last one year, none of them are said to be among the 10 workers rescued by the Israeli authorities.

The ITA functionary quoting local media reports said that the Administration of Foreign Affairs and the Population and Immigration Authority led a rescue operation on Thursday night to rescue the 10 Indian labourers, who had come to Israel and were working on construction sites. They were said to be held hostage in a village of Al-Za’im.

In a daring operation, these workers were said to have been rescued from the village after midnight in coordination with the IDF and the Israeli Ministry of Justice. The ITA representative said these workers were lured by an Al-Za’im resident with promise of work and their passports were taken away. Using these passports, some Palestinians who tried to enter Israel through a check point were apprehended and the passports were seized and subsequently returned to the Indian workers held in confinement by a Al-Za’im resident. After their rescue, the workers were brought to Israel.

The ITA sources said that if there were any Telugu speaking worker among the 10 labourers, the association would have been alerted by now. “We have a strong social media group, where any important development is shared within minutes. Many workers stay in the West Bank and work in construction sector,” the source said.

It was pointed out that in the last one year, when Israeli Government decided to ease curbs on work permits and invited Indians to join the construction industry, there was an influx. Going by the present estimation, as many as 15,000 have come into Israel to work in the construction industry.

From Telangana alone the State run Telangana Overseas Manpower Company Limited (TOMCOM) and other private agencies have sent over 500 workers for employment in the construction industry. “All these construction sites need trained manpower and in some cases the Indians were found wanting in terms of the quality of work they did,” sources said,