Soreti*, an Ethiopian migrant domestic servant living in Lebanon, considers herself lucky to be alive. On September 23, Israeli air strikes destroyed structures in her neighborhood in Tyre, southern Lebanon. She was not home.
“It was a massacre,” the 34-year-old claimed from a private residence where she and scores of other African migrants, including children, are currently hiding. “They just hit residential buildings where the elderly and children live.
I’m fine, although I guess I lost some hearing. “The children here are scared to sleep because of nightmares,” she told Al Jazeera.
Soreti is one of approximately 175,000 to 200,000 foreign domestic workers in Lebanon, the vast majority of whom are women. According to a 2019 Amnesty International report citing the Ministry of Labour, Ethiopians accounted for at least 75% of all migrant domestic workers in Lebanon.
They began arriving in the 1980s and continued to arrive in large numbers during the 1990s and 2000s when the civil war in Lebanon ended. Most take low-wage positions as live-in caregivers and transfer money to their relatives back home.
Israel, which has been at war with Gaza since October last year, increased its attacks on Lebanon last month. The military claims the offensive is aimed at sites utilized by the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
At least 1,900 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the last year, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.