"Housing in a commercial refrigerator and at a waste site": This is the reality of foreign workers in Israel
While employers in Israel praise the productivity of the approximately quarter-million workers who replaced the Palestinians, severe rights violations and appalling living conditions are being exposed, threatening to lead to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Since the events of October 7 and the halting of the entry of Palestinian laborers, Israel has shifted to an unprecedented reliance on approximately 250,000 foreign workers from India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and other countries. Employers in Israel report exceptional productivity and great dedication. However, according to an article published in "Globes", deep concern and severe harm to the living conditions and human rights of the workers are hidden beneath the praise.
"They receive five times the salary here than in their home country, they do not take sick days, they do not smoke, and they are not late," Yoki Mushonov, CEO of the company 'Ovedli', tells "Globes". However, regarding the housing of workers, despite legal regulations requiring adequate living conditions, appalling hazards are being exposed in practice.
"We find violations in every sector - cases of housing in a commercial refrigerator, at a waste site, or workers lighting a fire inside the house because there is no electricity," warns Shimon Zigzag, a senior division director at the Population and Immigration Authority.
The workers themselves also describe overcrowding and fear: "We sleep 12-15 people in a small apartment on two double beds," testifies one of the workers. "Whoever complains will not get more work."
While the government plans to increase quotas to more than 330,000 workers, enforcement and infrastructure have been left behind with only about 170 inspection standards. Without a regulated state solution for housing, Israel is walking with eyes wide open toward a severe humanitarian crisis.
