Israel and India agreed to allow an additional 50,000 Indian citizens to work in Israel over the next five years, according to a Thursday announcement from Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for India's External Affairs Ministry.
This update was part of a "List of 27 Outcomes" from the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Israel, which Jaiswal published on X/Twitter.
The "27 Outcomes" also included providing Indian workers increased access to jobs in Israel's manufacturing and food service sectors.
Modi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also signed memorandums of understanding in the fields of agriculture, geophysical exploration, heritage, science, education, economy, cyber, technology, security, and artificial intelligence, which were signed by their respective ministers and counterparts, as well as India’s Ambassador to Israel, J.P. Singh.
Foreign workers replace Palestinian labor in Israel, face hurdles
Israel's labor force took a significant blow following October 7, as all Arab workers from Gaza and the West Bank were barred from entering the country, and foreign workers fled the country en masse after 71 of their number were massacred by Hamas.
The recalibration of the workforce has been most acute in sectors heavily reliant on manual labor. Construction firms, already grappling with staffing shortages, are taking advantage of the influx of foreign workers. At the same time, restaurants and manufacturing have begun tapping into foreign labor quotas.
Previously, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were allowed to work in Israel. That figure has fallen as Israel cites major security concerns and a push to wean itself from reliance on Palestinian workers.
According to Kav LaOved, a nongovernmental organization focused on protecting workers’ rights in Israel, roughly 100,000 Palestinians were employed in Israel. Since October 2023, the entry of Palestinian workers has been cut to about 8,000, driven by heightened security restrictions and political tensions that have disrupted the labor market and major sectors such as construction.
In response, authorities have expanded the entry of foreign workers, altering the composition of the workforce.
Data published by PIBA in December showed that almost 61,000 new work permits were issued to foreign workers in 2025 to help fill the widening labor gap, bringing the total number of foreign workers to 227,044.
This new migrant workforce is employed not only in construction and agriculture, the traditional sectors of non-Israeli labor, but also increasingly in caregiving, trade, services, and renovation, roles previously held by Palestinian workers.
Miriam Sela-Eitam and Keren Setton/The Media Line contributed to this report.