DHAKA: The family of a Bangladeshi worker who died in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon said on Sunday that Tel Aviv was the only one responsible for his death and called for an immediate stop to the war raging in the Middle East.
There are between 70,000 and 100,000 Bangladeshi nationals in Lebanon, many working as laborers or domestic workers, according to estimates from the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry.
Mohammad Nizam, 31, was killed on Saturday afternoon as he stopped at a coffee shop on the way to work in Beirut, Bangladesh’s Ambassador to Lebanon Javed Tanveer Khan said in a statement.
Mohammad Nizam, 31, was killed on Saturday afternoon in Beirut. (Supplied)
“Israel is solely responsible for the death of my brother. This war should be stopped without any delay,” Nizam’s older brother, Mohammad Jalal, told Arab News.
“Since the beginning of recent Israeli attacks in Lebanon, I have been worried about Nizam’s safety. But I couldn’t imagine this tragic end to my brother’s life. If I could have sensed this outcome even a little bit, I would have brought him back at any cost.”
The death toll from Israel’s attacks on Lebanon since late September has surged to nearly 3,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. More than 13,300 people have been injured in air and ground raids, many of which have targeted civilian and medical infrastructure.
“I don’t understand how many innocent lives need to be sacrificed to satisfy the whims of the Israeli leadership. It’s simply inhuman, insane and cynical,” Jalal said.
In the wake of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, an estimated 1,800 Bangladeshis had registered for an evacuation flight home.
The first flights, organized by the government in Dhaka with the UN’s International Organization for Migration, had already brought some of them from Beirut last month.
Nizam was not among those who registered, with Jalal saying that his younger sibling had not been home once since he started living and working in Lebanon 12 years ago.
“The last time we talked … he was talking about building a house here in his birthplace. He was planning to return home soon by the end of this year. But now all of our dreams for a happy reunion have faded away with this sudden blow,” he said.
Though a request to repatriate the body of the deceased has been made, officials have said it was not currently possible due to the ongoing war. But Nizam’s family is still hoping for an arrangement with the help of authorities.
“Now I am waiting to see my brother’s face for one last time and bury him in our village. But I have no idea whether it would be possible or not amid this war situation,” Jalal said. “I don’t know when I will be able to see his face.”
