In the aftermath of the conflict with Hamas, Israel is grappling with a significant labor shortage. To address this issue, the Uttar Pradesh government, led by Yogi Adityanath, has launched a one-week recruitment drive at the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in Aliganj.

Israel is looking to recruit tens of thousands of Indian workers to fill the void created by the absence of Palestinian workers who were previously employed in various sectors in Israel. The recruitment drive in Uttar Pradesh aims to test at least 4,600 candidates for positions such as bar bending, mason, tiler, and shuttering carpenter over the course of seven days.

The process of facilitating employment for construction workers in Israel is being managed by NSDC International, an agency under the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in India, and the Population, Immigration, and Border Authority (PIBA) in Israel.

The schedule for testing skills is as follows:

• January 23: 629 workers from Agra, Kanpur, and Lucknow
• January 24: 585 workers from Azamgarh and Banda divisions
• January 25: 563 workers from Bareilly, Jhansi, Noida, Moradabad, and Devipatan divisions
• January 27: 656 workers from Varanasi, Mirzapur, Meerut, and Ghaziabad
• January 28: 877 workers of Gorakhpur division
• January 29: 739 workers of Ayodhya and Saharanpur divisions
• January 30: 603 workers of Aligarh, Basti, and Prayagraj divisions

In October, Israeli construction companies sought permission to hire up to 100,000 Indian workers to replace Palestinians whose work licenses were suspended after the Gaza offensive. A bilateral agreement signed in May 2023 between Israel and India already paved the way for 42,000 Indian construction and nursing workers to be sent to Israel.

Recruitment advertisements across India indicate monthly salaries ranging from 116,409 to 141,354. Approximately 17,000 Indian workers currently reside in Israel, primarily in nursing roles.

The labor shortage in Israel intensified as many foreign workers, including thousands from Thailand, returned home due to Tel Aviv's airstrike campaign in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of 25,000 Palestinians over 100 days.

Israeli authorities express hope to welcome 10,000 to 20,000 Indian migrant workers in the coming months, aiming to match the total number of foreign workers entering the country through bilateral agreements in 2021, as reported by Israel’s Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI).

Earlier this month, a similar recruitment drive took place in Haryana, where an average of 500-600 applicants were interviewed daily during the weeklong event in Rohtak.
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