Thailand speaks of 12 nationals killed after attacks in Israel

• Thousands of Thais are working as farmers in Israel.
• At least 12 Thais have been killed in Israel in attacks carried out by the Palestinian militant group Hamas over the weekend, according to the Thai Foreign Ministry.
• Sources say that by late Monday, clashes between Hamas and the Israeli army, the deadliest for Palestinians and Israelis in 50 years, had killed more than 1,100 people and injured thousands more.

"The number of dead Thais is 12, the information was provided by the embassy from the employers' side," Thai Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kanchana Patharachok told a news conference on Monday. She also said eight Thais were in hospitals with injuries and another 11 citizens were being held captive, but Kanchana did not give details. "We have been informed that the Israeli military has begun evacuating Thais from danger zones," she added.

Israel's military has responded harshly to Hamas attacks and the Jewish state has officially declared war on Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist and Palestinian nationalist group, after the militants launched rocket attacks and raids into southern Israel near the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Saturday. Israel responded by fighting Hamas militants to regain control of areas near the Gaza border and also launched air strikes on the densely populated Palestinian enclave. According to sources, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that he had ordered a "complete siege" of the Gaza Strip.

In the meantime, the Royal Thai Air Force has prepared five C-130 transport planes and an Airbus passenger jet to evacuate citizens as soon as possible," Kanchana said. Answering parliamentary questions about the situation in Israel, Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Jakkapong Sangmani said Monday that his office was still waiting for permission from Israel for Thai flights to enter to evacuate Thai nationals. He also said the government was in talks with the Palestinian Authority and Egypt "to help release the detained people." He said "at least 100 people of various nationalities, including Thai nationals," were "taken hostage. "

By August 2023, more than 4,533 Thais were working in Israel, many of them on farms, according to Thailand's Labor Ministry. In May 2021, a Hamas rocket attack on an agricultural farm near the Gaza Strip killed two Thais and injured eight others.

Possible evacuation of Thais

Hamas carried out several waves of attacks early Saturday, coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah and coming on the 50th anniversary of the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, sources said. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) estimates that about 1,000 Hamas militants participated in the initial attack. The ensuing fighting has killed at least 700 people in Israel and more than 400 in the Gaza Strip, according to an Associated Press report.

Former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said at a public ceremony in Phnom Penh that the government will not send a special transport plane to bring the students back to Cambodia unless the Israeli government says it is necessary. There are more than 400 Cambodian students in Israel, many of whom work on farms and study agriculture near the conflict zone. A Cambodian student was killed in clashes between Israeli armed forces and Hamas militants on Saturday.

Sum Phirun, who works on a dairy farm with two other Cambodians in Israel's Karmia region, told Radio Free Asia on Monday that he was leaving the area, which is about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. "I'm a little busy right now. I need to move from one place to another, thank you very much," he said.

At the same time, the Israeli army has secured the Sedot Negev Agricultural Center area, about 10 miles (17 km) from the Gaza Strip, where Cambodian students are studying agriculture, student Du Suchin said.

Philippines in Israel

The violence also affected dozens of Filipinos working in Israel.

There are about 40,000 Filipinos living in Israel, but only 25,000 of them have legal documents, according to labor and migration groups. The Philippine Embassy in Amman, Jordan, has started receiving repatriation requests, Daza said.

International reaction

Since the clashes began, UN officials and Western countries have condemned Hamas attacks, while parts of Muslim Southeast Asia have expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that "the international community continues to take unilateral measures against all forms of brutality and oppression against the Palestinian people." Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, said it was deeply concerned about the escalating conflict between Palestine and Israel, but added that "the root of the conflict, namely Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, must be resolved according to the parameters agreed upon by the UN. "

While Thai Prime Minister Sretta Thavisin joined many other international leaders in condemning the Hamas attacks, some Malay-speaking Muslims in the eastern part of the country affected by the uprising said they empathized with the Palestinians. "We share the pain of our brothers and sisters from Palestine when they are at war," said Hazim Saleh, a resident of the city of Yala. "We pray for their safety during this war." Abdullah Yusof, a resident of the southern province of Pattani, said Muslims at several mosques in the region pray for both Palestinians and Thais in captivity. "We are the same beings as the Palestinians," Abdullah said. "We also raised some funds for them.".