Four Thai nationals were killed by rocket fire in northern Israel close to the country’s border with Lebanon, Thailand’s foreign minister said on Friday.
In a post on the social media platform X, Maris Sangiampongsa said he was “deeply saddened” to learn of the deaths near the town of Metula the day before.
“I instructed our embassy in Tel Aviv last night to extend all possible assistance to the injured and the families of the deceased, and to express my profound condolences to them for their immense loss,” he wrote.
“Thailand continues to strongly urge all parties to return to the path of peace, in the name of the innocent civilians gravely impacted by this prolonged and deepening conflict.”
According to the Bangkok Post, the four workers have since been identified as Akkapon Wannasai from Udon Thani province, Prayat Pilasram from Buriram, and Kaweesak Papanang and Thana Tichantuek, both from Nakhon Ratchasima. A fifth worker was injured in the attack, which is believed to have come from the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah.
The destabilizing conflict in the Middle East has unusually touched Thailand. Prior to the conflict, about 30,000 Thai nationals worked in Israel, mostly in the agriculture sector, making up one of the largest groups of migrant workers in Israel.
Forty-one Thais were among the 1,200 people killed when Hamas militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which initiated the current conflict. Another 30 were abducted during the attack, and six are believed to still be in captivity, according to Thai authorities.
Those killed and captured by Hamas were part of a population of around 30,000 Thai citizens working in Israel’s agriculture sector. The presence of the large Thai population dates from the end of the First Intifada in the late 1980s, when due to security concerns Israel began to replace Palestinian farm workers with foreign nationals from further afield, including Thailand and the Philippines.
The ruthless Israeli response to the Hamas attack has since laid waste to the Gaza Strip and killed tens of thousands of people. Israel has now extended its attacks to southern Lebanon, from which Hezbollah has launched rocket attacks on northern Israel, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from towns in the border areas.
While many Thai laborers have returned to Thailand since the beginning of the war, others continue to risk themselves. As the Bangkok Post reported, Thana Tichantuek, 31, had been working as a fruit picker near the Israeli-Lebanese border for 11 months before his death. His mother, Jarung Tichantuek, said that she had urged him not to work in Israel, but he was determined, saying, “We could die anywhere.”
On Saturday, the Thai government sent a letter of protest to Tel Aviv, requesting that no more Thai workers be sent to high-risk areas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also advised Thai citizens to postpone non-essential travel to Israel and other affected areas in the Middle East.
“It’s fully understandable that some of us have gone overseas to work for a better life,” Maris wrote in the letter. “But the current situation in parts of the Middle East is highly unusual, with a significant level of violence in the ongoing conflict.”