An injured Thai overseas worker, on wheelchair, who was evacuated from Israel, arrives at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, in Samut Prakarn Province, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. The first Thai nationals evacuated since the latest war between Israel and Hamas returned home Thursday. A Thai overseas worker, left, who was evacuated from Israel, meets with a relative on his arrival at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, in Samut Prakarn Province, Thailand, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023.
About 30,000 Thais are working in Israel, according to the Thai Foreign Ministry, and about 5,000 of them live in the southern area near the border with Gaza. Thailand’s Cabinet ministers for labor, defense and foreign affairs were at Bangkok’s international airport for the evacuees’ arrival. The government has vowed to look after the evacuees’ physical and mental well-being.
Survivor Chatree Chasri left his home in northeastern Thailand in 2019 to work in Israel as an agricultural laborer to pay off debts and provide for his wife and two children back home in Nakhon Phanom. Foreign work is a common path for Thais from the country’s economically disadvantaged rural areas, especially the northeast.
Chatree was using a toilet at the farm where he works with other foreign laborers when he suddenly heard gunshots. She said abuse and violations of their rights are common, with many bound by years-long contracts but cheated of their wages. Many are forced to work long hours and are beaten if they refuse. Some have to live in “quarters that are not fit for human beings,” she said.