Dedicated and valued workers, an integral part of our community. They arrived from distant Thailand and Tanzania to assist with physical labor that had become increasingly difficult for our members over the years. Often with faces dusted from the fields and sun-baked, driving farm vehicles or working in the poultry and dairy farms, they would pass us with a gentle, shy smile.
They had a quiet, gentle presence among us. Their living quarters were adorned with a garden they cultivated with the same diligence that characterized everything they did.
During our Shavuot celebrations, they joined in operating the agricultural machinery. It was clear they wanted to share in our joy, and we thanked them for their hard work, devotion, and industriousness.
Their photographs show the thirteen who were murdered – men of various ages, young men with their whole lives ahead of them, family men.
Thirteen men murdered in a war that was not theirs. Hamas came to kill us because we are their enemies. But what was the crime of the Thai workers and the young Tanzanian student, who had no hand, heart, or stake in this terrible war? They showed Hamas their foreign passports and pleaded for their lives, but sheer evil and cruelty blinded the despicable murderers.
To the families of those who were murdered through no fault of their own, we wish to express our deepest gratitude for the help your loved ones gave us. We feel profound sorrow and remorse that we were unable to protect them as they helped us, or save them from such a bitter, cruel fate.
We, the people of Nir Oz, are eternally grateful to you, and we feel that you are part of the very fabric of our lives – a fabric that unraveled with your passing.
Clemens Felix Mtenga
Cae-lee Tou
Dachtuyawat Bancha
Apichart Kusaram
Kawao Srithat
Phongthep Kusaram
Najan Phichit
Phirun Thanonphim
Pinta Natthapong
Pongkhruea Paphonthanai
Prakotwong Thanakrit
Wisetdonwai Wutthipat
Surakhai Sakda
May their memories be a blessing.
