Four of the five people killed by Hezbollah rocket fire in Metulla on Thursday were foreign workers from Thailand, Thai officials confirmed, allowing for the publication of their names by Israeli media on Friday morning.
After a rocket hit a farm in Metullhtfa, Kawisak Papanang, Akaphon Wanasai, Thana Tijantak, and Prayat Pilatram were killed. A fifth person, an Israeli farmer, was also killed in the same incident.
Israeli Omer Weinstein, 47 years old, from Kibbutz Dafna, was named as one of the people who were killed in the strike, Israeli media reported later on Thursday. Weinstein left behind a wife and four children.
Akaphon Wanasai was from Udon Thani, Thailand, and was a resident of Tel Aviv, according to his locked Facebook profile.
Limited public information was available on Papanang, Tijantak, and Pilatram.
The IDF confirmed earlier on Thursday two rockets were launched from Lebanon and fell in "open areas," which, according to early indications, were agricultural sites near the town. These are believed to be connected reports.
Migrant rights organizations speak out
NGO Hotline for Refugees and Migrants responded to the incident, noting that it is not an isolated incident in which foreign workers are sent to desolate communities for work and are caught in the line of fire. "It is not possible for the lives of migrant workers in agriculture to be desolate. After too many immigrants have been killed since the outbreak of the war, the time has come for the IDF and the Ministry of the Interior to take responsibility - and get the migrant workers out of the bloody northern border. Just three weeks ago, Nissan Miram, a migrant worker from Thailand, was killed by an explosion in Kibbutz Yaraon."
They noted that following the death of Miriam, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel claimed that his office had ordered no migrant workers to be employed at the border. "This statement was, and remains, empty of content, and the price is paid by the immigrants, who Israel continues to invite here to work our fields. It is unthinkable that immigrants who left behind families and crossed the world hoping for a livelihood and a better future would be sent to work in the regions."
They called for areas such as Metulla to be evacuated and classed as military access only.
Thai officials have called for the appropriate embassy offices to initiate evacuation efforts for Thai nationals in the region.
Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz expressed condolences to the Thai government, the impacted families, and the Thai people for their losses in a post of X.
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…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) November 1, 2024