After al-Aqsa Flood: How ‘Israel’ Destroyed the Lives of Over 150,000 Palestinian Workers

Since October 7, 2023, Palestinian worker Ahmed Hassan has been out of work, joining tens of thousands as Israeli authorities revoked his permit.

In an interview with Al-Estiklal, Hassan, whose name has been changed for security reasons, described how he lost his job and the Israeli Occupation's refusal to renew his permit to work in the occupied Palestinian territories of 1948.

This crisis has affected thousands of workers across various sectors, particularly in construction, as part of a retaliatory move against Palestinians after Hamas launched the Operation al-Aqsa Flood.

Permit Cancellations

While Hassan is barred from working on his occupied land, Indian workers, like Raju Nishad, have been brought in to replace Palestinians.

Dressed in a safety belt, helmet, and work boots, Nishad moves through the scaffolding, hammering stones that will form part of a new building in the Be'er Ya'akov settlement.

The presence of Nishad and other Indian workers on the site may seem familiar, but they only recently joined Israeli Occupation’s construction sector, as reported by Agence France-Presse.

“Israel” has brought in thousands of Indian workers to fill the gap left by tens of thousands of Palestinian workers, who were barred from entry.

Following a series of decisions by the Israeli government after October 7, 2023, work permits for approximately 150,000 Palestinian workers from the West Bank were revoked.

Additionally, around 18,500 construction workers from Gaza, who had started working in 2022 after a long ban since 2006, joined their counterparts in the West Bank, forming the majority of the workforce.

Thousands of workers were also illegally detained and interrogated in “detention centers” about their knowledge of the al-Aqsa Flood operation before it unfolded.

At the same time, “Israel” began formal discussions with various Asian governments to recruit thousands of foreign workers, primarily from India, to replace the Palestinian workforce.

Israeli researchers believe the number of Indian workers in the construction sector remains lower than the number of Palestinians who worked there before the war, which hinders overall growth in the sector.

According to Israeli data, prior to the war, there were approximately 80,000 Palestinians working in construction (out of a total of 150,000 in various fields), in addition to around 26,000 foreign workers.

However, former War Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi froze permits in both the West Bank and Gaza for security reasons following Operation al-Aqsa Flood.

Only around 16,000 Indian workers arrived in “Israel” over the course of one year, while the Israeli government plans to bring in thousands more, according to Agence France-Presse.

Currently, there are about 30,000 foreign workers in total in “Israel,” a significantly lower number than before.

According to researchers, construction activities in the final quarter of 2024 were 25% lower than pre-war levels.

Ongoing Replacement

Since the escalation of the war in Gaza, recruitment agencies have launched a new campaign to bring Indian workers into the Israeli Occupation’s construction sector, where they had previously worked for decades in fields like caregiving, cooking, diamond trading, and IT.

Samir Khosla, chairperson of Delhi-based Dynamic Staffing Services, says he has brought over 3,500 workers to “Israel,” a new market for him.

Khosla arrived in “Israel” a month after the October 7 operation, following an urgent call from Israeli authorities requesting foreign workers for the construction sector, which had come to a halt after the Israeli war on Gaza broke out.

“We didn't know much about the market, and there wasn't an incumbent workforce from India here,” Khosla told AFP.

“We really had to move around and understand the needs.” he believed India was a natural choice for “Israel” given their “excellent relations.”

This data places the new Israeli measures within the broader historical context of the Zionist settlement project’s relationship with Palestinian labor. It reveals a recurring pattern in which “Israel” either recruits, exploits, expels, or replaces the Palestinian workforce depending on its needs.

Worker Ahmed Hassan said he has been without work since Operation al-Aqsa Flood and relies on aid for his family of seven due to the “retaliatory Israeli decision.”

He pointed out that the construction sector in the West Bank is “dead,” and even when work is available, “the wages do not match the pay inside [the occupied territories].”

For Faisal Mohammad, a 55-year-old worker living in the West Bank, the story is even more tragic. He says he was employed as a construction worker in Arab cities within the occupied territories and lost his right eye while working without receiving compensation or medical treatment from his employers.

“The situation worsened after Israel revoked my permit, leaving me unable to work or receive treatment because I never got compensation,” he told Al-Estiklal.

The Israeli Economy Ministry said it was “firmly opposed to allowing Palestinian laborers in to work in Israel and is working to bring in laborers from peaceful countries.”

“Economy Minister Nir Barkat clashed recently over the issue of foreign workers with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the premier of delaying a cabinet decision that would allow the arrival of larger numbers of foreign workers to replace Palestinian laborers,” The Times of Israel reported in March 2024.

Long-Term ‘Objectives’

Palestinian workers have long been a major concern for Israeli leaders, particularly with escalating tensions, due to fears of their involvement in carrying out operations inside the occupied territories.

To prevent this, the Israeli Occupation authorities adopted an early containment policy, using Palestinian labor to meet production needs while ensuring their continued systematic impoverishment, based on the assumption that controlling them means controlling their livelihoods.

“Israel” aimed to use these permits as a means to undermine growing resistance, thereby increasing Palestinian dependence on the Israeli economy.

Over the past decade, Israeli leaders have highlighted increasing Palestinian resistance as a primary threat to the stability of the settler-colonial state. In response, they have implemented heightened security efforts and economic measures to quell the Palestinian struggle, including expanding the number of permits granted to workers, according to al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network.

In a study published on January 5, 2025, al-Shabaka stated that “Israel” employs four main tactics to solidify the dependence of Palestinian labor:

Firstly, employing Palestinian workers in low-wage jobs exclusively when there are gaps in the Israeli labor market.

Secondly, focusing on employing Palestinians in agriculture, industry, and construction sectors, ensures a severe shortage of Palestinian labor, as these sectors are essential for achieving economic self-sufficiency.

Thirdly, continuing the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, thereby growing the Israeli Occupation’s economy while simultaneously causing the contraction of the Palestinian economy through land confiscation.

Fourthly, revoking work permits when Palestinian labor is no longer needed or when the colonizer seeks to impose collective punishment on the native population, forcing workers back into Palestinian sectors that were already weakened by the Israeli Occupation, only to replace them with foreign workers.

Israeli policies towards Palestinian workers have long-term consequences, as their employment in the Israeli market forms a key pillar of the Palestinian economy.

According to the study, wages from workers contribute over $380 million USD to the Palestinian market, serving as a crucial support for their families.

A Palestinian worker inside the 1948 occupied territories earns an average daily wage of approximately $81, more than double the average daily wage of their counterparts in the West Bank.

The loss of these wages extends beyond the personal hardship of individuals and families, as the revocation of work permits threatens to cost over 20% of the annual Palestinian GDP.

The arbitrary cancellation of work permits has also disrupted vital services and commercial sectors. In the West Bank, Palestinians lost a total of 306,000 jobs, which accounts for more than a third of total employment, according to the study.

Unemployment rates among individuals in the workforce rose to around 32%, compared to about 13% in the third quarter of 2023, while poverty rates increased from 12% to 28%, exacerbating the social and economic crisis.

Amid this, the Palestinian government has failed to address the issue of creating alternative job opportunities for its workers during the ongoing crisis.

“In the long term, the Israeli regime’s approach to Palestinian labor rests on a primary goal that impacts nearly every facet of Palestinian life: to make everyday life so unbearable that Palestinians are forced to leave their homeland. The aim, as always, is Palestinian erasure and Jewish expansion,” al-Shabaka concluded.