Amid ongoing conflict in Israel, many Chinese construction workers choose to stay, prioritizing high wages over evacuation, despite the risks posed by airstrikes and bombings.

Scores of Chinese construction workers in Israel have allegedly chosen not to evacuate the country, with some saying they would rather face bombs than poverty and starvation.

Since the start of the war, the Chinese Embassy in Israel has been organizing evacuations of Chinese citizens via the Taba Port in Egypt. There are an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 Chinese construction workers employed in Israel's construction industry.

However, despite the option to leave, many Chinese workers said they were unwilling to leave, noting higher wages in Israel.

In a video on X, one Chinese construction worker said, “I’m working here, everything is normal. If there’s an air raid siren, you take cover. We’re used to it by now. I hope everyone won’t worry too much. People have asked whether I’ll go back. I’ll tell you: I’ll visit family eventually, but I won’t go back right now. Life isn’t just about having enough to eat. We want freedom. We want to live with dignity.”

In another video, taken from inside a dormitory, a Chinese worker says, “I’d rather be bombed to death than die in poverty."

'Israeli employers do not delay wages'

Workers told NTD Television - an anti-PRC channel - that they work 12 hours a day at construction sites in Israel, earning between 30,000–40,000 yuan per month at the low end, and up to 70,000–80,000 yuan at the high end. This translates to around $4,100 to $11,000 a month. According to them, Israeli employers do not delay wages.

“As a carpenter, I make 1,800 yuan a day, 45,000 a month," one worker told NTD. "I’m not going home until I’ve made two million."

The worker added that he got injured and had surgery. "The hospital was excellent," he said. "They arranged a Chinese interpreter for me. The doctors were great.”

Another worker said he came to Israel to lay tile on construction sites, earning 60,000 to 70,000 yuan a month.

“Laying tile, I make two to three thousand a day,” he said. “In five years, that’s two million. Back home, I could barely support myself, let alone my kid and my parents. The pressure was enormous. Here, if I work seven or eight years, maybe ten, I can earn enough to retire on.”

Comments in the Jerusalem Post under the NTD broadcast on the subject shed extra light on the sentiments of Chinese citizens.

"30,000–40,000 yuan a month, 500,000 a year," said one. "One year there equals ten years working in China. I wouldn’t go back [to China] even if I were bombed to death. The chance of being killed by a bombing is lower than being hit by a car. What’s there to fear?"

"Compared to dying poor, being bombed is instant: dying in poverty is slow torture," said another.

Other comments had similar themes: "Death isn’t scary, Poverty is"; "Being injured in a missile attack is a low-probability event, but poverty is like a sniper, almost every shot hits the head"; "For those without the red (Marxist-Leninist) background in China, it’s not just dying poor, it’s dying in humiliation, being harassed to death, oppressed and abused, robbed and harmed."

Unemployment in China is about 5.30 percent, as of February 2026. The government of China announced the elimination of poverty in rural areas in 2021, as measured using the official poverty standard, equivalent to $2.30/day (2017 PPP). However, using a higher poverty line typical of upper-middle-income economies such as China, about 17% of the population was living in poverty in 2021, according to the World Bank.

The Jerusalem Post reached out to the Chinese Embassy for comment.