Even when country is burning, Israel Prez calls Soumya’s kin, assures to fulfil her husband's wish

CHERUTHONI: Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday spoke to the family of Soumya Santhosh, a caregiver from Kerala killed on May 11 in a rocket attack by Palestinian militants from Gaza, and conveyed his condolences.

Soumya, who hailed from Idukki, worked as a caregiver attending to an old woman at a house in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. Soumya’s husband Santhosh said President Reuven Rivlin assured all possible support from the government. He said that while speaking to him, he told him that he wished to see the place where his wife was killed and assured him that would make the necessary arrangements to visit the spot and inform when things are ready.

The President also assured to meet me and my son during our visit to Israel. The President called the family and talked to them for 20 minutes. He communicated with the help of a translator. 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.

The details of the conversation the Israeli President had with the family were not available but an Adviser to Rivlin confirmed that it did take place.

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 body 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 Soumya Santosh, murdered by Hamas indiscriminate terror attack on innocent lives. Our hearts are crying with her 9-year-old son that lost his mother in this cruel Terrorist attack," Malka said in a tweet.