On September 23, in the blink of an eye, Shahadat Hossain's years of savings, blood, sweat and toil became rubble.

In 2015, Shahadat, 30, of Noakhali went to Lebanon. After working at a petrol pump for three years, he, with the support of his Lebanese friends, set up a grocery shop to cater to the Bangladeshis in Nabatieh, some 10 kilometres from the Israeli border.

That shop was crushed in a flash by Israeli force's bombs.

"Having lost my shop, I am now penniless," Shahadat told The Daily Star yesterday from a shelter in Saida, about 30 kilometres from Nabatieh.

The Bangladeshi community and the Bangladesh embassy in Lebanon arranged shelter for him and about 250 Bangladeshis displaced by the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah.

"I sold products worth Bangladeshi four to five lakh taka on credit. I am totally hopeless about my future now."

Shahadat invested Tk 8-10 lakh in the grocery store.

"All my dreams have now been crushed by the war."

About 3,000 Bangladeshi migrants have been displaced by the Israeli-Hezbollah war, according to Bangladeshi embassy officials in Lebanon.

A few thousand others who were displaced may have taken shelter in their relatives' or friends' homes, according to Bangladesh community leaders.

There are about one lakh Bangladeshi migrants, and almost 50 percent of them are women.

However, the political crisis in Lebanon in 1988-20, the dollar crisis and the pandemic caused havoc to the migrants. The Israeli attacks pushed them into another spate of uncertainty.

Bangladeshis spend Tk 4-4.5 lakh each to go to Lebanon, and their minimum monthly monthly wage is $350, according to Abdul Karim, president of Lebanon Probashi Bangladeshi Sramik Union in Beirut.

Since it takes a while for a migrant to recoup the recruitment fees, many of them change jobs for better-paid ones and thus become irregular.

"In fact, most of the Bangladeshis in Lebanon are now irregular. That's why many of those who are facing security threats for the Israeli attacks are unwilling to return home," Karim added.

The Bangladesh embassy in Beirut on Wednesday announced that those willing to return home should send their information through a prescribed form to the embassy there.

The decision came after the International Organisation for Migration agreed to the Bangladesh government's request to arrange the evacuation of Bangladeshis willing to return home.

"We are still weighing the options of evacuation," said the Bangladesh embassy official in Lebanon asking not to be named.

Out of 250 Bangladeshis, as of yesterday, only 35 are willing to return home, said Rabbol Mia, one of the Bangladesh community leaders who arranged the shelter in Saida.

"I don't have a single penny in my pocket. My employer is fleeing because of the war. I don't know when he will return and pay me," said Rubel, another migrant at the shelter centre of Saida.

Those not going home are worried about what they would be doing in Bangladesh.

"We spent big amounts to come to Lebanon. How can we go home now penniless?" he said.

The Bangladesh government should consider rehabilitation and integration programmes for those returning from Lebanon, said Shakirul Islam, chairman of Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme.

"They are not responsible for the war. They are also not responsible for the political or dollar crisis of Lebanon in the last few years. The international community should also consider support for these migrants," he said.