45 Deaths and 430 Injuries Due to Workplace Accidents in the Occupied Territories

SadaNews - The number of workers who have lost their lives in various workplace accidents in the country since the beginning of this year, 2025, until today has reached 45 workers, along with 430 workers injured with varying degrees of wounds.

 

In this context, a young man named Riyad Raed Amer Dawood (Sahmoud), 24 years old, from Yatta in the Hebron Governorate of the West Bank, was killed after falling at his workplace in the Be'er Sheva area in the Negev, southern occupied Palestine, yesterday, Sunday.

The number of victims reached 69 in 2024, most of whom were Arab and foreign workers, while 83 deaths were recorded in 2023, 48 of which were in the construction sector, which accounts for more than half of the victims of workplace accidents.

Data indicates that the main causes of these accidents include falls from heights and the falling of heavy objects, emphasizing the urgent need to enhance safety measures at work sites.

In a related context, the "Workers' Address" Association mentioned that "the alarming data indicates that the decrease in the workplace accident index in the last year, 2024, was misleading or illusory, resulting from the decline in economic activity following the war on Gaza, and the abandonment of Palestinian workers in the construction sector. As it is evident, workers, who form the 'weakest link' in the Israeli economy, are the most affected group, and they are the ones paying the price for the problematic situation at construction sites and the failures to provide safety measures in Israel."

The association urged the Israeli Minister of Labor to "address the problem fundamentally by establishing a national authority for occupational safety and health, and creating a national plan to eliminate the problem of workplace accidents. Workers who go out to earn their livelihoods should not return home in coffins and body bags."

Source: Arab 48