Jerusalem: Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday spoke to the family of the Indian caregiver who was killed on May 11 in a rocket attack by Palestinian militants from Gaza, and conveyed his condolences.
Israel Consulate General Jonathan Zadka talked to Soumya's husband.
Soumya Santosh, 30, who hailed from Kerala's Idukki district, worked as a caregiver attending to an old woman at a house in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.
She was talking to her husband Santhosh over a video call in the evening on May 11 when a rocket fired from Gaza directly hit the house where she was working.
When Santhosh expressed his wish to see the place were Soumya died, the president agreed to make the necessary arrangements. According to the grieving family, the president said that they could meet in person when they arrive in Israel.
The Indian caregiver was living and working in Israel for the last seven years. She has a nine-year-old son whom she had left with her husband in Kerala.
Her 80-year-old elderly charge survived the direct hit on the house and was hospitalised.
The rocket shelter was at least a minute's run away from the woman's home and the pair could not manage to reach it in time. The home lacked a fortified room of its own.
Soumya's mortal remains were sent to India on May 14 in a specially arranged flight and reached her hometown the next day.
Israel's Ambassador to India, Dr. Ron Malka, also spoke to the family last week to express his sorrow over the incident.
On behalf of the state of Israel, I convey heartfelt condolences to the family of Ms. Soumya Santosh, murdered by Hamas indiscriminate terror attack on innocent lives. Our hearts are crying with her 9 years old son that lost his mother in this cruel Terrorist attack, Malka said in a tweet.
The attack reminded him of little Moshe who lost his parents in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, the Israeli envoy said.
