Thailand Says Hezbollah Rocket Fire Killed Four Nationals, Israel Expresses Condolences

Four Thai nationals were killed and one was injured in northern Israel by rocket fire from the terrorist group Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said on Friday.

“I am deeply saddened to learn about the four Thais killed and one injured from rocket fire close to the town of Metula near the Israeli-Lebanese border,” Maris wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “I instructed our Embassy in Tel Aviv last night to extend every and all assistance to the injured and families of the deceased, and extend my profound condolences to them for their immense loss.”

On Thursday, rocket barrages from Iran-backed Hezbollah into northern Israel killed seven people and wounded several more. One incident in Metula, which is largely evacuated due to the ongoing conflict, killed farmer Omer Weinstein and four of his foreign workers. According to Israeli media, the workers were identified as Kawisak Papanang, Akaphon Wanasai, Thana Tijantak, and Prayat Pilatram.

In a second incident on Thursday, a 60-year-old and her 30-year-old son were killed in an olive grove near Shfaram from a Hezbollah rocket.

Thursday was not the first that Thai nationals have been hurt by Iran-backed terrorists’ war against Israel.

Last year, 46 Thais were among the 1,200 people killed when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists perpetrated their Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel from neighboring Gaza, according to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Among the more than 250 people kidnapped as hostages by Hamas terrorists during their onslaught, 30 were Thai nationals. Six are believed to still be in captivity, according to Thai authorities.

About 30,000 Thai nationals worked in Israel before the conflict, mostly in the agriculture sector. They made up one of the largest groups of migrant workers in the Jewish state.

Israel responded to the Hamas-led attack with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza.

In recent months, however, the Israeli military has turned more of its attention northward to Hezbollah, which over the past year, since Hamas’s invasion, has been firing drones, missiles, and rockets at northern Israel almost daily from its stronghold in Lebanon.

About 70,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes amid the relentless Hezbollah attacks. Israel has vowed to do whatever is necessary, including military action, to ensure its displaced citizens can return to their communities. In recent weeks, Israel has significantly degraded Hezbollah’s rocket and missile stockpiles and killed much of its leadership.

“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,” Maris wrote in his social media post.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz extended his condolences to Thailand for the killing of four of its nationals, adding that Israel was determined to combat Hezbollah and its chief backers in Iran.

“I wish to extend my personal and heartfelt condolences to the Government of Thailand, to the Thai people, and especially to the families of the four workers from Thailand who were brutally murdered yesterday by the Hezbollah terror organization near the northern Israeli town of Metula,” Katz posted on X/Twitter.

“Hezbollah-Iranian terrorism knows no limits and harms Israelis and civilians from all over the world alike,” he added. “Israel will continue to fight the world’s fight against Iranian-led terrorism and Israel will win it.”

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