Tel Aviv [Israel] : Israel’s construction sector has said that it asked the government to allow companies to hire up to 100,000 workers from India to replace 90,000 Palestinians who lost their work permits since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Voice of America (VOA) reported.
The Israeli construction sector is currently facing a labour shortage. This can be attributed to the cancellation of work permits for Palestinian workers after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
The vice president of the Israel Builders Association, Haim Feiglin, was quoted by VOA as saying: “Right now we are negotiating with India. We are waiting for [the] decision of the Israeli government to approve that. And, we hope to engage 50,000 to 100,000 workers from India to be able to run the whole sector and bring it back to normal.”
“We are at war and the Palestinian workers, which are about 25 per cent of our human resources in the sector, are not coming, are not permitted to work in Israel,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there will be no ceasefire without the release of hostages by Hamas.
“There will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” the Israeli Prime Minister wrote on ‘X’ on Thursday.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday, “We won’t let Hamas win; we will rebuild our communities in southern Israel, and we will continue to live our lives.”
The IDF said that combat engineers have uncovered and destroyed 130 Hamas tunnels in Gaza since the beginning of the ground invasion. The IDF said that in addition to the tunnels, other underground Hamas infrastructure, such as command centres, was also destroyed.
“The enemy’s preparation for a prolonged stay in the tunnels can be seen based on water and oxygen means found in the tunnels,” the IDF said.
Meanwhile, Hamas on Wednesday accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) of “colluding” with Israel as thousands of Palestinians streamed from northern Gaza to the southern side of the Strip. Israel has called on residents of northern Gaza to move south to get away from fighting.
Hamas has blocked roads and even fired on Palestinians trying to flee, according to the IDF.
“UNRWA and its officials bear responsibility for this humanitarian catastrophe, in particular, the residents of the Gaza [City] area and north of it” who are moving along IDF-arranged displacement routes to flee south, said Hamas spokesperson Salama Maruf.