Amid the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Sri Lankan migrants working in Israel have chosen to remain in the country and face the possibility of escalating armed conflict rather than return to the island.

According to a spokesperson from the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB), there are some 8,000 Sri Lankans in Israel at present.

However, whilst other countries have been organising evacuations, there have not been any requests to return from Sri Lankan citizens, confirmed Labour Minister Manusha Nanayakkara. “There is no trend of Sri Lankan workers in Israel coming back to Sri Lanka,” he told reporters.

Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who oversaw a military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils and stands accused of committing genocide, claimed that “war is never a solution” after a visit to the Palestinian  embassy in Colombo on Monday.

The Sri Lankan Navy said it had conducted “special operations” and arrested 27 fishermen from Tamil Nadu, as well as seizing five trawlers in Jaffna and Mannar.

The latest arrests come as the detention of fishermen from Tamil Nadu, an issue that has plagued relations between Colombo and Chennai for years, continues.

In a move that is seen to further inflame tensions in the Mayilathamadu Madhavanai area of Batticaloa, a new Buddha statue was installed on Sunday under the leadership of controversial monk Ambitiya Sumanaratna. The installation ceremony also saw the participation of former Governor of the Eastern Province, Anuradha Yahampa.

The British Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, recently paid a visit to Jaffna where she met with Tamil parliamentarians and other officials, as part of her first visit to the island.

The 37th commemoration of the death of Lt. Col. Victor, a key commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who was martyred in 1986, was held in Mannar last week.

Buddhist monks led a Sinhala nationalist rally in support of Israel and its offensive on Gaza this week, reiterating Israeli military support during Sri Lanka’s war on Tamils.

“At that time when the international community was not helping us, the Israel state assisted us unconditionally to save us from terrorism,” claimed Senapathiye Ananda, a Buddhist monk from the little-known North & East Sinhala Association.

^{Photograph: Sunday Times}

Sri Lanka’s president Ranil Wickremesinghe “urged a fresh approach” to solving the Israel-Palestine conflict and aired the idea of “four-state solution involving Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and Lebanon,” in public remarks last week.

In a historic moment, the ferry service between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, and Kankesanthurai (KKS) in Jaffna, was inaugurated on October 14, 2023. The high-speed ferry, operated by the Shipping Corporation of India, marked the revival of sea connectivity between Tamil Eelam and Tamil Nadu after a hiatus of 40 years.

The journey commenced from Nagapattinam port in the morning with 50 passengers and staff on board, reaching Kankesanthurai at 12:20 pm.

An Eelam Tamil family, who had been displaced from their homes and were residing in Tamil Nadu for more than 30 years, have been arrested as they returned to Jaffna this week.

The Bar Associations in the North-East have called off their ongoing strike but will continue to stage their protest to highlight the eroding independence of the judiciary and the lack of safety for judicial workers on the island, after a judge was forced to flee last month.

The Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) has raised “serious concerns” over the Anti-Terrorism Bill and the Online Safety Bill, two pieces of legislation that are currently being considered in Sri Lanka’s parliament.

The UN Human Rights Office warned that both bills “give the authorities a range of expansive powers and can impose restrictions on human rights, not in line with international human rights law”.

Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted its report into the fleeing of a Tamil judge who faced death threats on the island, and claimed that “there was no threat to life” in its conclusion.