Kerala woman Soumya Santosh, 31, was killed in a rocket attack in Ashkelon, Israel, where she was working as a caregiver to an elderly woman.
Soumya had been working in Israel for the past nine years and last visited her home in Keerithodu in Idukki district in 2017.
According to her husband Santosh, they were speaking over a video call in the evening when he heard a loud noise after which he heard no response, and the call got disconnected.
Upon contacting fellow Malayalees, he was informed about the incident and that his wife had been killed along with a few others.
She has a nine-year-old son whom she had left with Santosh in Kerala.
The ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel has become a growing concern for Kerala nurses working there as caregivers. Ashkelon, a city on the southern Israeli coast that borders the Gaza strip, has come under massive fire from the Palestine militants.
At least 31 people were killed till 9pm (local time) on Tuesday 11 May as Gaza-based militants fired hundreds of rockets on Israel starting the evening before.
According to Santosh, Soumya had reached out to the children of the elderly woman she was caring for on Tuesday, in an attempt to move to somewhere safer. She was told by the son that he would come to get her.
Soumya had packed both their bags when the house was directly hit by a rocket.
They were unable to make it to the rocket shelter in time and the house lacked a fortified room.
The 80-year-old woman with Soumya is believed to have survived and is hospitalised in a serious condition, according to local media reports.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan has said that all efforts were being taken to bring Soumya’s body home, which is currently in a hospital in Bursail, Ashkelon.
Following the tragic demise of Ms Soumya Santhosh in Israel, all efforts are being made to bring her mortal remains to Kerala at the earliest.
I am in constant touch with the bereaved family. My heart goes out to her family at this time of grief.
— V. Muraleedharan (@MOS_MEA) May 12, 2021
From IANS and other reports
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