Anan Phetkaew, 39: Thai laborer who was the pillar of his family

Anan “Nan” Phetkaew, 39, an agricultural worker from the Chaiyaphum province in northeastern Thailand, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Alumim on October 7.

Anan was among the 22 Thai and Nepalese workers who were murdered in the kibbutz that morning when the terrorists attacked their living quarters with grenades and gunfire.

One survivor told Human Rights Watch that before one of the terrorists threw a grenade into their living quarters, he shouted, “Hello, Thailand,” and then in Hebrew, “You like to work so hard, now you will die.”

Mitchai Sarabon, another Thai survivor from Alumim, told Fox News that the terrorists threw grenades inside and opened fire: “Everything was burning, the room, the people and I just decided to jump out and run.”

Anan’s body was flown back to Thailand for burial on October 20. His cremation ceremony was held several days later. He is survived by his wife, Aoyjai Chaisri, their 12-year-old daughter, and his parents.

His aunt, Wongduean Lamlert, told local media that Anan had been working in Israel for close to 2.5 years, sending money back to his family to provide them with a better life and pay off his debts after his previous business closed down during the COVID pandemic.

She told another news outlet: “The war was inhuman. We had nothing to do with it. If they wanted to regain land or attack each other, they had to evacuate people, but they did not seem to care who was who. The value of a person is of great importance to our family. My nephew was the pillar of our family and the pride of our house. But today we have to receive his lifeless body.”

Anan’s mother told a local news site that her son would call her “every month. He would always send me money every month without fail. He said that he was planning to save money to build a new house and had already filled in the soil and leveled the area… I still can’t accept the loss of my beloved son, who was the pillar of the family.”

Writing on Facebook in May 2024, his wife, Aoyjai, wrote that she misses the “person who secretly took photos of me, the person who always cares for me. No matter what I do, he always looks at me and cares for me. The person who does everything, no matter how difficult it is, my child and I love and miss you always, my love.”