India and Israel have signed 16 agreements during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, which includes provisions for 50,000 additional Indian labourers to receive visas for work in Israel.

Israel would allow 50,000 additional Indian workers into the country over the next five years, especially in manufacturing sectors, an Indian foreign ministry statement said on Thursday after Modi’s visit.

After October 2023, Israel barred most Palestinian workers from entering Israel. India stepped in by sending waves of low-cost Indian workers to Israel.

By mid-2025, over 20,000 Indian labourers had gone to Israel, including thousands in construction, explicitly replacing Palestinian labour and supporting Israel’s economy and construction sector during the genocide.

India has historically supported the establishment of a Palestinian state but under the Modi government New Delhi has sometimes abstained from criticism of Israel in international forums, including in voting at the United Nations about the genocide in Gaza.

Prior to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, some 100,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank worked inside Israel, with an additional 40,000 employed in illegal settlements and Israeli-controlled industrial zones in the occupied West Bank.

Currently, approximately 7,000 Palestinians are permitted entry into Israel monthly, with an additional 9,000 working in illegal settlements or adjacent industrial areas.

According to Israeli government data, Palestinians constituted 29 percent of Israel’s construction workforce before 7 October, but now that workforce is being replaced by lower-cost Indian workers.

The average monthly salary in the Occupied West Bank is approximately $430. In contrast, Israel’s minimum wage, applicable to legally employed Palestinian workers, is about $1,890, while skilled Palestinian construction workers can make $2,380 or more per month.