Sonthaya Oakkharasri, 30: Thai farmer and devoted dad was raising ducks
Kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri and murdered on October 7, his body held captive in Gaza and returned in October 2025
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Sonthaya “Mos” Oakkharasri, 30, an agricultural worker from the Nong Bua Lamphu province in northeastern Thailand, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023 and murdered that day, his body held captive in Gaza.
While he was initially believed to be held hostage, Israeli authorities determined in May 2024 that he had been killed the day of the attack.
His remains were finally returned to Israel on October 18, 2025. On October 22, his body was flown back to Thailand, and his funeral and cremation ceremony was held on October 27.
Sonthaya is survived by his daughter, Kaimook “Muk,” now 9, his parents, Amorn and Niphon, and his younger brother, Weeradech.
He arrived in Israel in 2018 to work in agriculture, signing a five-year contract and hoping to earn money and build a better life for himself and his family. Sonthaya worked first in northern Israel for a number of years before moving to work in the south. In Be’eri he was working in the kibbutz’s avocado orchards.
His contract was set to expire in October 2023, and he had been planning to return to Thailand, excited to reunite with his family after five years – with his return date set for October 20, 2023.
At a ceremony when his body arrived in Bangkok, Labour Minister Treenuch Thienthong said that “Sonthaya went abroad to work for a better life, but was unable to return home safely. On behalf of the Thai government, I extend my heartfelt condolences to his parents and daughter.”
The Hostages Families Forum said in a statement that Sonthaya “was a quiet man, focused on his work, but maintained daily contact with his mother Amorn and his young daughter Kaimook.”
His family told a local news outlet that Sonthaya went abroad to work because of the family’s financial hardships. His mother said that he was a “frugal and thrifty person,” and in order to save extra money while living in Israel he raised raised ducks and chickens and grew his own vegetables.
His mother, Amorn, told a local news outlet that his daughter Kaimook “loves her father very much and called him every day before school until they lost contact. Every time she sees a plane, Kaimook tells her grandmother that her father has come back.”
The Times of Israel Community.