While thousands of foreigners are making a quick exit from war-torn Israel that is currently occupied in fighting militants in the neighbouring Gaza Strip since October 7, many Sri Lankans on the other hand have thrown caution to the wind and are eagerly awaiting to enter the Jewish State for lucrative employment, a senior official said yesterday.
At present, there are 8,000 Sri Lankans in Israeli homes and establishments, the bulk of them being caretakers and none of them have shown any anxiety to return home leaving their jobs.
On the other hand, 100 Sri Lankans mainly females registered with the authorities are awaiting approval from the Foreign Office in Colombo and other stakeholders before taking a flight to Israel, Deputy General Manager Training at the Sri Lanka Bureau for Foreign Employment (SLFEB) Senarath Yapa told the Sunday Observer.
He said the current fighting is taking place at a safe distance away from the Israeli main cities and, therefore, there is very little to bother at the moment.
“However, we are watching the situation closely and action would be taken to evacuate or re-locate the Sri Lankans workers should the fighting intensify and get closer to the main cities”, Yapa said.
So far one Sri Lankan woman has been confirmed killed and two others missing without a trace.
The two Sri Lankans are believed to have been taken hostage along with 200 others after the Hamas militants raided the Israeli border villagers on October 7 although this could not be confirmed by the SLBFE official.
The monthly wage of a Sri Lankan caregiver is a little over Rs, 500,000 and this is set to rise should the fighting in the region reach a fierce level, according to officials in the freign employment industry.
