Chaiwat Waewnil, a 30-year-old Thai agricultural worker from Chaiyaphum Province, was killed shortly before midnight on Wednesday, 18 March 2026, by shrapnel from an Iranian cluster-munition missile at Moshav Adanim in central Israel’s Sharon region. He had been working at a potato farm (Ozer Farm), roughly 12 kilometres from Herzliya, and is survived by his wife and young child in Thailand. He is the first Thai national killed since the Iran-Israel conflict escalated with Operation Roaring Lion on 28 February.
Israeli government statements initially referred to the victim by the transliteration “Walin Chayut,” but Thailand’s Ministry of Labour and The Times of Israel identify him as Chaiwat Waewnil (Thai: ชัยวัฒน์ แว่วนิล).
The Incident#
Shortly before midnight on Wednesday, Iranian ballistic missiles struck multiple locations across Israel. One of them carried a cluster warhead, which scatters dozens of smaller submunitions across a wide area, and hit the agricultural community of Moshav Adanim. Waewnil was fatally wounded at 11:45 p.m., according to Thailand’s Ministry of Labour.
Waewnil was found in a tractor shed with severe head injuries from shrapnel. Magen David Adom paramedics were forced to pronounce him dead despite resuscitation efforts. MDA paramedic Idan Shina described the scene: “When we arrived, we were led to an agricultural area where there had been a strike in a shed. Metal fragments were scattered around, and nearby, a man was lying unconscious with very serious shrapnel injuries.”
Twenty-four other Thai workers at the same site survived the attack after reaching a protected shelter in time. It remains unclear why Waewnil did not join his colleagues in the shelter.
“A Quiet and Introverted Man”#
Yoram Doktori, chairman of Moshav Adanim’s community association, spoke about Waewnil in an interview with Kan News. “He had been here for about six months. A quiet man. Introverted. I saw him every morning on the tractor, heading out to the fields,” Doktori said. Thai Ministry of Labour records, however, show Waewnil registered for overseas employment through Thailand’s Department of Employment on 27 May 2025, meaning he had actually been in Israel for roughly ten months.
The close-knit agricultural community had integrated the Thai workers into daily life at the moshav. “The Thai workers are part of our community,” Doktori emphasised. “What they go through, we go through. We are with them every day in the fields.”
Impact on the Thai Worker Community#
Waewnil’s death has sent shockwaves through the Thai agricultural worker community in Israel, which numbers approximately 25,000 people. Thai workers form the backbone of Israel’s agricultural sector.
Doktori expressed concern about the psychological toll on the workers and the potential for another mass departure. “We are accompanying his colleagues — they are in shock and don’t know what to do with themselves. Of course, they haven’t been working since the incident. We are trying to help them,” he said. “We are very worried that, like after October 7, there will be a wave of departures.”
After the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, in which 39 Thai nationals were killed and several were taken hostage from agricultural communities in southern Israel, thousands of Thai workers left the country, creating a significant labour shortage.
Official Responses#
Israeli President Isaac Herzog personally telephoned Thai Ambassador to Israel Boonyarit Vichienpuntu on 19 March to offer condolences, underscoring “Israel’s commitment to the safety and security of all foreign workers residing in the country.” The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the indiscriminate nature of Iran’s attacks on civilians.
Thailand’s Labour Minister Treenuch Thienthong confirmed the death after a report from the Office of Labour Affairs at the Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv, and directed the labour attaché in Israel to ensure Thai workers remain in safe areas and strictly follow authorities’ instructions. She also ordered the Chaiyaphum labour office to visit the family and assist with repatriation paperwork. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a formal statement.
Repatriation and Support#
The Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv held a Buddhist memorial ceremony for Waewnil on Monday, 23 March 2026. His body is scheduled to be flown home after 27 March, when El Al resumed commercial operations. Officials from Thailand’s Department of Consular Affairs travelled to Chaiyaphum on Tuesday, 24 March, to offer condolences to the family and help process benefits and compensation.
Permanent Secretary of Labour Wannapong Kotcharak outlined the entitlements available to Waewnil’s heirs:
- 40,000 baht from Thailand’s overseas-workers assistance fund
- Up to 40,000 baht in actual funeral expenses incurred abroad
- A 71,459.14 baht old-age gratuity from Thailand’s Social Security Fund
- Bereavement and burial compensation, monthly and annual payments, children’s education allowances, and psychological assistance from Israel’s National Insurance Institute
Separately, the Royal Thai embassies in Tehran and Ankara are coordinating the evacuation of four Thai shrimp farmers from Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.
Other Casualties#
Waewnil was one of several victims of the Iranian missile barrages that have struck Israel since the conflict began on 28 February. An elderly Israeli couple, Yaron and Ilana Moshe, were killed by a cluster munition that hit their Ramat Gan apartment earlier that week. In the same overnight barrage as Adanim, four Palestinian women from the Masalma family were killed by an apparent cluster munition that struck a bridal salon in the Hebron-area village of Beit Awwa, where they had been preparing a Ramadan meal.
The use of cluster munitions — banned under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which neither Iran nor Israel have ratified — has drawn international criticism due to their indiscriminate nature and the risk of unexploded ordnance.
Sources: Times of Israel, Kan News, Thai PBS World, Nation Thailand, Bangkok Post, Thairath English, Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israeli President’s Office
