India in touch with Israel after Kerala woman dies in Hamas rocket attack

The Embassy of India in Tel Aviv has been in touch with the Government of Israel after a 32-year-old caregiver from Kerala, Soumya Santhosh, was killed in a rocket attack at Ashkelon in the West Asian country on Tuesday.

V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs, spoke to the bereaved family in Kerala and assured all possible assistance from the Government of India. He noted in a tweet that New Delhi had condemned the “attacks and violence in Jerusalem” and urged both sides to exercise restraint.

Read more: Kerala woman killed in Israel-Palestine conflict

Santhosh was originally a resident of Keerithodu in the Idukki district of Kerala. She was working as a caregiver to an 80-year-old woman in Ashkelon, a coastal city in southern Israel. The 32-year-old was killed as one of the rockets fired by the militants of Hamas from Gaza Strip hit the house of the octogenarian woman, who was also injured and hospitalized. Unlike many houses in the locality, the one where they lived did not have a fortified room to protect them from aerial bombardment. The two women could not reach the nearby rocket shelter before being hit, according to the reports received in New Delhi.

Santhosh was on a video-call with her husband in Kerala just before the rocket attack started.

Also read: 35 killed in Gaza, 5 in Israel, as violence escalates

“On behalf of the state of #Israel, I convey heartfelt condolences to the family of Ms. Soumya Santosh (Santhosh), murdered by Hamas indiscriminate terror attack on innocent lives,” Ron Malka, the ambassador of Israel to India, posted on Twitter. “Our hearts are crying with her 9 years old son that lost his mother in this cruel terrorist attack.”

Malka too spoke to the family of Santhosh.

“I just spoke to the family of Ms. Soumya Santosh, the victim of the Hamas terrorist strike. I expressed my sorrow for their unfortunate loss & (and) extended my condolences on behalf of the state of Israel. The whole country is mourning her loss & (and) we are here for them,” he tweeted.

The hostility between Israel and Palestine escalated over the past few weeks. The aerial strikes and counter strikes by Hamas and the Israel Defence Force intensified over night. At least 35 were killed in the Gaza Strip and five in Israel.