Ten Indian foreign workers were rescued from a Palestinian village close to Jerusalem in a joint IDF and Justice Ministry operation on Thursday night, the Population and Immigration Authority announced on Thursday.
The foreign workers were rescued from the Palestinian village of al-Zaim after they were promised work there by a Palestinian resident who then took their passports, preventing them from leaving the village and going back to Israel.
מינהל אכיפה וזרים ברשות האוכלוסין וההגירה, הוביל הלילה מבצע חילוץ של עשרה עובדים הודים שהגיעו לישראל לעבודה בענף הבניין, הוחזקו בכפר א-זעיים. במהלך מתואם עם צה״ל ומשרד המשפטים, חולצו עשרת העובדים מהכפר באישון לילה. https://t.co/2MdohuQSvz pic.twitter.com/6XK0zBCwKw
— רשות האוכלוסין וההגירה (@piba_il) March 6, 2025
What happened?
The workers were in the town for over a month without any work and couldn't get back into Israel because the Palestinian withheld their passports, according to the statement.
The Palestinian resident tried to use their passports to get into Israel through the checkpoints quickly but was caught by the IDF, the statement said.
The Enforcement Administration sent representatives to retrieve the foreign workers at 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning and brought them to a safe place until their employment could be legally regulated.