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Thailand Says Hezbollah Rocket Fire Killed Four Nationals, Israel Expresses Condolences
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand Maris Sangiampongsa addresses the “Summit of the Future” in the General Assembly hall at United Nations headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
Four Thai nationals were killed and one was injured in northern Israel by rocket fire from the terrorist group Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said on Friday.
“I am deeply saddened to learn about the four Thais killed and one injured from rocket fire close to the town of Metula near the Israeli-Lebanese border,” Maris wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “I instructed our Embassy in Tel Aviv last night to extend every and all assistance to the injured and families of the deceased, and extend my profound condolences to them for their immense loss.”
On Thursday, rocket barrages from Iran-backed Hezbollah into northern Israel killed seven people and wounded several more. One incident in Metula, which is largely evacuated due to the ongoing conflict, killed farmer Omer Weinstein and four of his foreign workers. According to Israeli media, the workers were identified as Kawisak Papanang, Akaphon Wanasai, Thana Tijantak, and Prayat Pilatram.
In a second incident on Thursday, a 60-year-old and her 30-year-old son were killed in an olive grove near Shfaram from a Hezbollah rocket.
Thursday was not the first that Thai nationals have been hurt by Iran-backed terrorists’ war against Israel.
Last year, 46 Thais were among the 1,200 people killed when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists perpetrated their Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel from neighboring Gaza, according to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Among the more than 250 people kidnapped as hostages by Hamas terrorists during their onslaught, 30 were Thai nationals. Six are believed to still be in captivity, according to Thai authorities.
About 30,000 Thai nationals worked in Israel before the conflict, mostly in the agriculture sector. They made up one of the largest groups of migrant workers in the Jewish state.
Israel responded to the Hamas-led attack with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group’s military and governing capabilities in Gaza.
In recent months, however, the Israeli military has turned more of its attention northward to Hezbollah, which over the past year, since Hamas’s invasion, has been firing drones, missiles, and rockets at northern Israel almost daily from its stronghold in Lebanon.
About 70,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate their homes amid the relentless Hezbollah attacks. Israel has vowed to do whatever is necessary, including military action, to ensure its displaced citizens can return to their communities. In recent weeks, Israel has significantly degraded Hezbollah’s rocket and missile stockpiles and killed much of its leadership.
“Thailand continues to strongly urge all parties to return to the path of peace, in the name of the innocent civilians gravely impacted by this prolonged and deepening conflict,” Maris wrote in his social media post.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz extended his condolences to Thailand for the killing of four of its nationals, adding that Israel was determined to combat Hezbollah and its chief backers in Iran.
“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 Metula,” Katz posted on X/Twitter.
“Hezbollah-Iranian terrorism knows no limits and harms Israelis and civilians from all over the world alike,” he added. “Israel will continue to fight the world’s fight against Iranian-led terrorism and Israel will win it.”
The post Thailand Says Hezbollah Rocket Fire Killed Four Nationals, Israel Expresses Condolences first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.