Eighteen Thais have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants, the kingdom’s government said Tuesday, raising the previous toll of 12.
Jakkapong Sangmanee, Thailand’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, gave the updated toll and said the government was working to evacuate thousands of Thais away from the conflict, which erupted on Saturday.
A foreign ministry spokeswoman said separately that nine Thai citizens had been wounded and 11 taken hostage.
About 5,000 Thai nationals had been evacuated from high-risk areas to safety, Jakkapong said.
“There are more than 3,000 people asking to return to Thailand,” he added.
The foreign minister had been in touch with his Israeli counterpart, the ministry said, and had made a formal request to Israel to help secure the release of the hostages.
The foreign ministry also said Israeli police were using facial recognition technology to find missing people.
There are around 30,000 Thai workers in Israel, according to Bangkok’s labour ministry, many of them working in agriculture.
The death toll rose to 900 in Israel, which has retaliated with a barrage of strikes on Gaza, pushing the number of deaths there to 687.
Thailand is not the only country to have nationals caught up in the violence, with citizens from the United States, United Kingdom and Nepal also among the dead.
© Agence France-Presse
