- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
The news left her family back home nervous till they learned about her condition from her colleagues in the Middle Eastern country.
By: Shubham Ghosh
AN Indian caregiver was on Saturday (7) injured in Ashkelon, the Israeli city which has been hit by air-borne attacks launched by Hamas, after a rocket struck the house she was in to provide care, the Times of India reported.
Sheeja Anand, 40, hails from Payyaviir in Kannur district of the southern state of Kerala. The news left her family back home nervous but it could not contact her initially, the report added. They eventually learned about Anand’s condition from her colleagues in Israel.
India’s minister of state for external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi said the prime minister’s office was closely monitoring the situation in Israel. The Narendra Modi government has been working overtime to bring back its citizens from the strife zone. Videos were also doing rounds on social media showing Indians in Israel appealing for help.
#WATCH | Maharashtra: Actress Nushrratt Bharuccha refuses to speak to the media as she arrives at Mumbai airport from Israel pic.twitter.com/Ru8dDtcZmP
— ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2023
Lekhi also said that the Indian government has a history of successfully evacuating Indian citizens stranded in other nations caught in crises. In the recent past, India has evacuated its citizens from countries such as Ukraine and Sudan after they were engulfed in war and civil strife.
V Muraleedharan, also a minister of state for external affairs, advised Indians in Israel to abide by the safety advisory issued by the ministry of external affairs and asked them to contact the local Indian embassy if they required help.
Several Indians live in Israel as caregivers, information technology professionals, diamond traders and students. While there has been no report of hostages or deaths of Indian nationals in the ongoing conflict between Israeli forces and Hamas extremists, the Indian embassy in Tel Aviv confirmed of having received several requests for help for safe exit.
Air travel to and from Israel has been hit by the conflict, which has made it more challenging for those eyeing to exit the country. Air India cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv till October. It has already evacuated its cre members from Israel via Egypt.
Conrad Sangma, chief minister of the eastern Indian state of Meghalaya, on Sunday said 27 citizens from the state, who were stranded in Israel’s conflict zone, safely crossed the border into Egypt.
Indian actress Nushrratt Bharuccha, trapped in Israel due to a film promotion event, also returned to Mumbai safely. She looked visibly shaken at the airport and urged the media to let her go home.
