Four Thai agricultural workers were killed and another was injured by rocket fire near Metula, the northernmost town in Israel bordering Lebanon, as announced by Foreign Affairs Minister Maris Sangiampongsa on Friday.
In a social media post on X, Minister Maris said, “I instructed our embassy in Tel Aviv last night to extend all possible assistance to the injured and to the families of the deceased, and to express my profound condolences to them for their immense loss.”
Labour Minister Phipat Ratchakitprakarn responded to the incident by stating on Friday that he had ordered the ministry’s permanent secretary, Boonsong Thapchaiyuth, to work with the labor attaché in Tel Aviv to organize the relocation of all Thai workers from northern Israel to safer regions in the south.
Minister Phipat also directed labor officials to visit the victims’ families to offer support and financial compensation.
Reports indicate that two rockets struck open areas near Metula, resulting in seven fatalities. The casualties included one Israeli farmer and four Thai laborers.
Last month, a Thai worker was found deceased, and another sustained a severe concussion following an anti-tank rocket attack at the Kibbutz Yir’on Agricultural Estate in northern Israel.
Last year, Israeli authorities reported that 41 Thais were among the 1,200 fatalities when Hamas militants attacked across Israeli borders.
During the October 7, 2023, attack, thirty Thai citizens were kidnapped, with six reportedly still being held captive, according to Thai government sources.
The Israeli military’s response has devastated the Palestinian Gaza Strip and resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands. Israel has also targeted Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
Prior to this conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai citizens were working in Israel, primarily in the agricultural sector, representing one of the largest groups of foreign laborers in the country.
