Labour organisations have urged the Centre not to send Indian workers to Israel, a day after a Kerala resident was killed in a missile attack on Israel’s northern border.

The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (Citu) have urged the government to cancel the agreements, if any, with Israeli firms to send Indian workers.

Nibin Maxwell from Kerala was working on a farm near the Israel-Lebanon border when he was killed in a missile attack believed to have been carried out by the Shia Hezbollah faction on Tuesday.

In a statement, the AITUC said Indian workers were being sent to Israel to replace Palestinian construction workers.

“The area has become a war zone due to Israel’s aggressive moves against the neighbouring Arab countries. The AITUC reiterates its demand to the central government not to callously send our young men to Israel in a desperate attempt to check our rising unemployment, but to cancel any contract entered into with Israel for such ‘export’ of construction workers and any other workers,” it said.

Citu general secretary Tapan Sen said the Centre had told the Israeli government that it would send workers as the work permits of Palestinians had been suspended after the war broke out in October last year.

“Several hundred workers from different states have gone to Israel in recent months after Israel attacked Gaza. Some states such as Haryana and Uttar Pradesh issued advertisements to encourage people to go to Israel to work. We have been opposing it because of the safety and security of workers. In reality, the safety of workers is meaningless for the government,” he said.

“The Indian government allowed the workers to be used as cannon fodders in the war zone,” Sen added.

CPI Rajya Sabha member Binoy Vishwam had in January written to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar stating that Indian citizens had been sent for jobs in Israel by bypassing all kinds of protections and social security customary for workers in conflict zones.