Thailand Sends Agriculture Workers To Israel For The First Time Since The War In Gaza

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION/no one cares

JAKARTA - Thailand will return to send agricultural workers to Israel this week after an eight-month hiatus, Thailand's Ministry of Manpower said.

It is targeted that more than 10,000 citizens work in the country every year, reported by Reuters, Monday, June 24.

About 30,000 workers from Thailand worked in the agricultural sector, which is one of Israel's largest group of migrant workers, before the conflict occurred in October 2023.

Trapped in fighting when Palestinian Hamas armed groups attacked Israel on October 7, 39 Thais were killed and 32 others held hostage, according to the Thai government.

Six of them are believed to be still being held.

"The government asks the Israeli government's cooperation to help emphasize employers to maintain the safety of Thai workers," the Ministry of Manpower said in a statement.

The first wave of about 100 workers will fly from the capital Bangkok on Tuesday, June 25.

Many Thais, mainly from rural areas in the northeast, are looking for jobs in Israel because of higher salaries and opportunities to get out of swelling debt, a problem that eats away at millions of people in the country with the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia.