Israeli Diplomat Visits Family of Saumya Killed In Hamas Strike
Jonathan Zadka, consul general of Israel to South India on Sunday extended condolences to the family of Kerala woman Soumya Santhosh, who lost her life during the Hamas strike in Israel. The 30-year-old Indian woman, hailing from Idukki in Kerala, was among those killed in a rocket attack by a Palestinian Islamist group on Tuesday.
She had been working as a housemaid in Israel for the last seven years. She was killed when a rocket fell on her residence in the city of Ashkelon while she was talking to her husband Santhosh, who is in Kerala, over video call.
Jonathan Zadka, the consul general of Israel to South India, visited Soumya’s grieving family on Sunday and paid tribute to her.
“Honoured to pay my respects and convey our sympathies to the family and friends of Soumya Santosh as she was laid to rest in her home town Keerithod, Kerala. May she RIP our prayers are with the family that lost an angel in a cowardly Hamas terror attack,” Zadka tweeted.
Scores of people paid homage to Soumya Santhosh, who was killed in a Palestinian rocket attack in Israel on May 11, at her village in Idukki district of Kerala. The funeral was held at the cemetery of Nithya Sahaya Matha Church at Keerithodu amid strict COVID restrictions on Sunday afternoon.
“Soumya is regarded as an angel by the people of Israel,” Zadka said, adding that his government will always support her family. Zadka handed over a badge carrying the flags of both India and Israel to Soumya’s son Adon.
“Honoured to pay my respects and convey our sympathies to the family and friends of Soumya Santosh as she was laid to rest in her home town Keerithod, Kerala. May she RIP our prayers are with the family that lost an angel in a cowardly hamas terror attack,” Zadka later said in a tweet.
Soumya’s mortal remains were brought to Kochi from New Delhi by an Air India flight on Saturday evening. Political leaders including Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose, P.T. Thomas MLA and senior BJP leader A.N. Radhakrishnan were present at the airport to receive the body.
The body was placed at the airport for a few minutes for the public to pay homage and later taken to her village in Idukki.
