Kerala-based woman caregiver injured in Hamas attack on Israel

PTI, Oct 9, 2023, 5:40 PM IST

Image credit: India Today

Kannur (Kerala): A Kerala-based woman working as a caregiver in Israel was the sole Indian national injured in the unprecedented multi-front attack by Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, on that country since Saturday.

Sheeja Anand, a native of Payyavoor in Kannur district of Kerala, was injured in the missile strikes on Ashkelon, a coastal city in the southern part of Israel on Saturday, while she was on a video call with her husband, her family said.

The Indian mission reached out to her for support and has been in touch with her family in the Kannur district of Kerala.

“Her family has been informed, and we are in constant contact both with Ms. Sheeja and her family,” an embassy source said.

There is no reason for any concern at the moment, informed sources told PTI.

Sheeja’s sister told TV channels that while on the video call, Sheeja told her husband Anand that she can hear the missile strikes and he told her to be careful and safe.

“In the middle of the conversation, the call got disconnected and thereafter, we could not reach her for several hours. Later in the evening some of her colleagues told us that she was injured in the attack and her phone fell somewhere,” the sister said.

On Sunday afternoon, the family saw Sheeja in a hospital bed from where she told her mom — “Amma, I am ok”, her mother said.

“I barely got to see her face for a short time. Thereafter, there was no information. Then yesterday night we were informed by her colleagues that she was being shifted to another hospital for spinal surgery.

“I thought only her hands and legs were injured. Now even her spine is injured,” she said tearfully.

Sheeja’s brother-in-law Devan told PTI that she has been working as a caregiver in Israel for the past seven years and that she had come to Kerala last year for a visit.

Her husband Anand was on his way to Pune with their child for some exam, Devan added.

While most of the hostilities are confined to around 10 per cent of Israel’s area, especially its southern part of Ashkelon, there are concerns among people there over rumours of change in the dynamics of certain Palestinian communities living in Israel.

According to Anish, a native of Erumeli in Kottayam district of the state, whose wife, brother-in-law and sister are working in that country as caregivers, only around 10 per cent of Israel is affected by the fight between Hamas and the Israeli defence forces.

He said that his wife, who is working with a Jewish family in Jerusalem, said that she was safe and secure, but has expressed apprehension over rumours of change in dynamics within certain Palestinian communities in Israel.

“She has heard rumours that they are showing leanings towards the Hamas group,” he said, while speaking to PTI.

Besides that, there were also instances of mobile phones being hacked and cyber attacks on those who claim that the situation is normal in most parts of Israel, he claimed.

Anish said that his sister and brother-in-law who are in Ashkelon told him tanks were rolling into that area and while there were sounds of fighting, they were safe.

“Defence forces and police are on the streets and are looking for the insurgents who have infiltrated into Israel. The insurgents’ presence is also a matter of concern among people,” he added.

On being asked whether his family members wished to return to India due to the ongoing fighting, he replied in the negative.

Anish said that the Israeli government was ensuring their security and the Indian embassy has asked everyone to lay low and be safe and await further instructions.

Meanwhile, Rejimon Kuttappan, a migrant rights activist, said that another reason many Indian nationals — mostly working as caregivers — may not want to come back would be the huge amounts they have paid to agencies and middlemen to get a visa for going to Israel.

“I know of people who have spent Rs 20 lakh for a visa which actually costs only Rs 1.25 lakh. People would have had to take loans or mortgage property to get those amounts.

“So they will not want to return as they have to pay off their debts,” Kuttappan, author of ‘Undocumented: Stories of Indian Migrants in the Arab Gulf’, told PTI.

They can pay off their debts only if they continue to work in Israel, where caregivers are paid between Rs 1.25 lakh to nearly Rs 2 lakh per month as salary, he said.

“Therefore, anyone who has gone to Israel recently and has paid huge amounts for the visa would certainly not want to come back,” Kuttappan said.

He also said that he was in touch with many of the people from Kerala who have gone to Israel and they said that they were safe and sound.

Around 1,200 people in total have died in the fighting between Hamas and Israeli defence forces since Saturday.