Soumya Santosh, 30, was killed in a Hamas rocket attack on Israel
Jerusalem:
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has praised the “generosity and kind-heartedness” of an Indian caregiver who was killed on May 11 in a rocket attack by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza.
Soumya Santosh, 30, from Kerala’s Idukki district, was a caregiver professional attending to an old woman at a house in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. She was talking to her husband on a video call on May 11 when a rocket fired from Gaza directly hit the house where she was working.
Mr Rivlin, who called the family of the caregiver on Wednesday, expressed his condolences, saying he hopes they would find comfort in her “generosity and kind-heartedness”, a statement from the Presidency said on Friday.
“President of Israel Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin spoke earlier this week with the family of Soumya Santosh, an Indian citizen working as a caregiver in Israel, who was killed in rocket fire on Ashkelon on Tuesday May 11,” the statement said.
His media adviser had earlier confirmed to PTI that the President had spoken to the family of Soumya on Wednesday. “Speaking to the family of Soumya, the President told her husband Santhosh, who is in India with their nine-year-old son, that, ‘I hope you find comfort in the love, the generosity and the kind-heartedness she gave to others in need’,” the statement said.
The Israeli President tweeted he expressed “deep condolences” to the families of foreign workers for their “tragic deaths”. “Speaking with the families of Soumya Santosh of #India and of Weerawat Karunborirak and Sikarin Sa-ngamrum of #Thailand, killed by Hamas #terror attacks on #Israel in recent days. I expressed our deep condolences for their tragic deaths,” Mr Rivlin wrote.
Mr Santhosh is said to have thanked the President for “his warm embrace and Israel for helping to expedite the transfer of the body to India for burial”.
“The President also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the people of India for their support for Israel,” the statement added.
India, during the UN General Assembly meeting on the situation in the Middle East and Palestine, underlined that every effort should be made to create conducive conditions for the resumption of direct talks between Israel and Palestine, emphasising that meaningful negotiations will go a long way in establishing lasting peace and stability in the region.