Tears and trauma as Thai evacuees return from Israel
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A Thai worker (right) evacuated from Israel hugging his father after arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Oct 12.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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BANGKOK – The first flight carrying Thai evacuees fleeing the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas landed in Bangkok on Thursday
Worried families gathered at the airport hours before the arrival of a flight carrying 41 Thais, including 15 evacuees, who were flown out with assistance from their country’s diplomats.
About 30,000 Thais work in Israel, mostly in the agriculture sector, according to Bangkok’s Labour Ministry.
Two returning workers were in wheelchairs, with tired looks on their faces after the long journey home.
“I thought to myself I wouldn’t survive. They shot continuously like in a film,” Mr Katchakorn Pudtason told reporters at the airport.
“The fighting was so intense that my employer let us take shelter at his home,” he added.
“He told me the situation was easing, and when I tried to escape, I heard the gunshots behind me and I realised that I (had been) shot in the knee.”
Hamas fighters last Saturday crossed the Israeli border in vehicles, by air and sea, and killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
They also seized dozens of Israeli, dual-national and foreign hostages, whom Hamas is threatening to kill.
Israel has retaliated by declaring a war
More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as Israel has levelled entire city blocks and destroyed thousands of buildings.
The number of Thais killed in the conflict has risen to 21, Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Thursday.
Fears are mounting over the fate of 16 others who have been taken hostage by Hamas, the Thai Foreign Ministry said.
“I have lost 10 of my colleagues,” said Mr Kittipong Chaikow from the north-eastern Nong Bua Lam Phu province.
“I am so happy to be back in Thailand,” he told reporters.
“Dad is here,” said another evacuee while hugging and reassuring his daughter.
Family reunion
Ms Yanisa Thaweekaew, whose son, Mr Supipat Kongkaew, has worked on an Israeli avocado farm since 2022, said she had not slept in days.
“My son is everything to me. I was worried. He is the only son I have,” she told AFP.
“I cried every day knowing that he lived in the red zone.”
Many of those being repatriated are farm workers from Thailand’s poor north-east who had gone to Israel in search of vastly higher wages.
The mother and the wife of Mr Somma Sae-ja – a Thai man who moved to Israel two years ago to work in agriculture – were anxiously awaiting his safe return home after he was shot in the leg.
“I couldn’t sleep last night, I was so excited and worried,” his wife, Ms Nantawan Sae-lee, 30, told AFP.
“We don’t have much money so he went to Israel. He is a really good man.”
More than 5,000 Thais are trying to return to the kingdom, with diplomats exploring potential sea and overland evacuation options.
Thai repatriation flights are due to leave Israel next Sunday and Wednesday.
Ms Sawiang Paelin, 69, from Nong Khai province, said her son was able to support his entire family by working abroad, but she was grateful that he was returning.
“No amount of money is more important than a person’s life,” she said. AFP
