The remains of the second Sri Lankan who was allegedly killed during the Hamas terror attack in Israel on October 7 was brought to the island nation on Thursday morning, officials said.
They said that Sujith Bandara Yatawara a father of two was identified following DNA samples taken from his children.
The victim had been employed in the Jewish State since 2015 and was killed along with 1,400 others during the Hamas raid in the south of Israel.
A local politician and officials from the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) were also present along with the family to receive the remains of the victim.
Late last month the remains of a 48-year-old Sri Lankan woman who was also murdered during the Hamaz raid was flown to Colombo and handed over to her family.
Meanwhile the Colombo authorities are planning to send some 10,000 Sri Lankans to work on agriculture farms in Israel.
According to officials the Sri Lankan Envoy in Tel Aviv Nimal Bandara had signed an agreement to this effect with the Israeli Interior Minister Moshe Arbel the officials added.
They said that the Israeli authorities are desperately in need of farm hands after some 20,000 Palestinian workers were sacked with the outbreak of the ongoing war between the Jewish State and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
However according to media reports Envoy Bandara is making efforts to recruit an estimated 4,000 illegal Sri Lankans currently staying in Israel without valid work permits and visas.
These persons are believed to have been trafficked into Israel largely through the Jordanian border or had arrived in that country on tourist visas, the officials said.
However it is learnt that Colombo is yet to agree with the request from the Sri Lankan Ambassador owing to legal and diplomatic hassles and so on, the officials explained.
Having said that Colombo also voted in favour of Palestine at a recent UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza strip and therefore recruiting Sri Lankan workers in Israel could lead to a conflict of interests at both ends, the officials said without elaborating.
