Thai death toll in Israel-Gaza conflict hits 24 as Australia cancels repatriation flights

Three more Thai nationals have died in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, bringing the death toll to 24, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Saturday.

“I have been informed that there are three more people who died, making it a total of 24,” Srettha told reporters.

Two additional Thai nationals have been wounded, the Thai foreign ministry said, bringing the total to 16.

About 30,000 Thais are working in Israel, mostly in the agriculture sector, according to the kingdom’s labour ministry.

Palestinians in Gaza face choice: stay under strikes, or flee under strikes?

Thousands of Palestinians have fled to southern Gaza seeking refuge after Israel warned them to evacuate before an expected ground offensive against Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.

Last Saturday, hundreds of Hamas gunmen stormed across the border from Gaza into Israel and killed more than 1,300 people, most of them civilians.

At least 1,900 Gazans – most of them civilians and including more than 600 children – have been killed in missile strikes on the densely populated enclave, the health ministry said.

Hamas took about 150 Israeli, foreign and dual national hostages back to Gaza in the initial attack, Israel has said.

Fears are held over the fate of 16 Thai hostages.

Kanyarat Suriyasri, the wife of a hostage, urged the Thai government to do everything to bring her husband home safely.

“I just want my husband back. I just want to hug him,” she said, in Si Sa Ket province in the country’s northeast.

Diplomats are working to bring home 7,000 Thai workers and the kingdom’s national and low cost airlines have signed up to help.

There were emotional scenes at a Bangkok airport on Thursday as the first group of evacuees, many of them wounded, were reunited with their families.

Nearly 100 Thais have returned from Israel with a third repatriation flight carrying 100 more due to land in Thailand on Sunday.

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Thai worker recount frantic escape after Palestinian Hamas militant attack in Israel

Thai worker recount frantic escape after Palestinian Hamas militant attack in Israel

On Friday, the Philippines foreign ministry said that a 49-year-old woman was killed at the music festival. Previously authorities said a 33-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man had been killed at a kibbutz. Three nationals remained missing.

Ten Nepali citizens were killed in Kibbutz Alumim, the Himalayan republic’s embassy in Tel Aviv said. The kibbutz was hosting 17 students at the time of the attack.

Three Israeli-Austrians were killed in the attacks, authorities said. Two others remain missing. China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that three Chinese nationals had been killed and two were missing.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet said one Cambodian student had been killed.

Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Israel said on Tuesday that two nationals, a 48-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman, were missing.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday an Australian woman had been killed in the attacks.

Meanwhile, Australia has cancelled two planned flights to repatriate citizens from Israel and the Palestinian territories due to the “highly challenging” situation, the foreign affairs department said on Saturday.

Repatriation flights scheduled for Saturday and Sunday will not depart as planned amid a “highly challenging and rapidly changing” situation, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said in a statement on social media.

Australia continues to work with citizens in the area to help them return home and will communicate about future flights, DFAT added.

The first in the planned series of repatriation flights left on Friday local time, with over 200 Australians and their families arriving safely in London, according to SBS News.