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Half a World Away, Thais Pray for Loved Ones Caught in Hamas Attacks
Dozens of migrant farm workers were seized or killed in the Oct. 7 raids on Israel, and their relatives are pleading for answers: “We have nothing to do with their war.”…In the impoverished northeast of Thailand, past cassava fields and cows dozing in the heat, Watsana Yojampa has her son’s new house almost ready for his return. There is a room for his daughter, soon to be painted purple because that’s her favorite hue of Care Bear. There will be fancy light fixtures and air-conditioning. In less than two years, her son Anucha Angkaew, 28, had saved enough as an avocado farmhand in Israel to pay for the construction. On Oct. 6, Ms. Watsana showed him tile options for the bathroom over a video call. He was very particular about his “modern house” and promised to get back to her on his preferred shade of gray, she said.
A day after that call, Hamas attackers besieged Israeli communities near the border with Gaza. By the time the bloodletting stopped, 32 Thai agricultural workers had been killed and at least 22 taken hostage, according to the Thai Foreign Ministry. Another accounting puts the total number of Thais who were killed, kidnapped or are missing but feared dead at 80. Either way, Thais, who have no connection to Israel except as a destination for a few years of hard work, are the second-largest group of victims in the Oct. 7 attack, after Israelis. Mr. Anucha was among a group of Thai hostages whose photos were released on social media, their faces terrified as a masked man aimed an assault rifle at them. His 7-year-old daughter still does not know what happened in Israel. The family has told her his phone is broken and that’s why Daddy has halted his daily check-ins.
…Thailand is the largest source of foreign farm labor in Israel, with about 30,000 citizens working there before the Hamas attack. Nearly a month later, the plight of Thai farmworkers remains caught up in a haze of bureaucratic mystery and diplomatic ambiguity. Families of those who are missing or believed to be held hostage say they have received no communication from Thai or Israeli government officials.
Many family members in Thailand say they have no idea whether their loved ones are dead or alive — or how to find out. Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, the Thai foreign minister, flew to the Middle East and said on Friday that Iran, Egypt and Qatar were acting as intermediaries with Hamas to try to free the hostages. An earlier Israeli count of the Thai hostages put the number at 54, out of more than 220 people thought to have been taken to Gaza. On Wednesday, Ms. Watsana received a call from a local Thai official saying that she needed to submit a DNA sample. Is it because her son has died or is it a routine collection process? She does not know. The local official said he did not know, either.
More at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/world/asia/thailand-hostages-hamas-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8Ew.J5gP.7qJHZNA0nKA-&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
A day after that call, Hamas attackers besieged Israeli communities near the border with Gaza. By the time the bloodletting stopped, 32 Thai agricultural workers had been killed and at least 22 taken hostage, according to the Thai Foreign Ministry. Another accounting puts the total number of Thais who were killed, kidnapped or are missing but feared dead at 80. Either way, Thais, who have no connection to Israel except as a destination for a few years of hard work, are the second-largest group of victims in the Oct. 7 attack, after Israelis. Mr. Anucha was among a group of Thai hostages whose photos were released on social media, their faces terrified as a masked man aimed an assault rifle at them. His 7-year-old daughter still does not know what happened in Israel. The family has told her his phone is broken and that’s why Daddy has halted his daily check-ins.
…Thailand is the largest source of foreign farm labor in Israel, with about 30,000 citizens working there before the Hamas attack. Nearly a month later, the plight of Thai farmworkers remains caught up in a haze of bureaucratic mystery and diplomatic ambiguity. Families of those who are missing or believed to be held hostage say they have received no communication from Thai or Israeli government officials.
Many family members in Thailand say they have no idea whether their loved ones are dead or alive — or how to find out. Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, the Thai foreign minister, flew to the Middle East and said on Friday that Iran, Egypt and Qatar were acting as intermediaries with Hamas to try to free the hostages. An earlier Israeli count of the Thai hostages put the number at 54, out of more than 220 people thought to have been taken to Gaza. On Wednesday, Ms. Watsana received a call from a local Thai official saying that she needed to submit a DNA sample. Is it because her son has died or is it a routine collection process? She does not know. The local official said he did not know, either.
More at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/world/asia/thailand-hostages-hamas-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8Ew.J5gP.7qJHZNA0nKA-&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Mr. Anucha’s 7-year-old daughter still does not know what happened in Israel. The family has told her his phone is broken and that’s why her father has stopped calling.
