Trade unions appeal to UN over plight of Palestinians out of work after October 7

A group of international trade unions file a complaint against Israel at the UN‘s labor organization in a bid to win compensation for 200,000 Palestinians who have gone unpaid or seen their benefits withheld after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.

The nine unions say the workers from both Gaza and the West Bank had been employed in Israel before the deadly onslaught, but were barred from entering the country to go to their jobs afterward. As a result, the workers and their families have faced millions of dollars’ worth of lost income, financial insecurity and no access to remedies through the courts, they say.

“These workers have experienced widespread wage theft due to the suspension of work permits and the unilateral termination of their contracts,” says a joint statement from the unions, whose members are active in industries as diverse as construction, education, journalism, agriculture, hospitality and transportation.

The filing at the International Labor Organization in Geneva, of which Israel is a member country, is based on language in its constitution that seeks to ensure that countries uphold international commitments they have already made.