Another 320 Thai workers returned home from Israel on Wednesday morning, bringing the total number of Thai evacuees to 4,296.
The 26th batch of Thais departed from Tel Aviv on SpiceJet flight SG 9014 and arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport about 7am on Wednesday.
Natanthachai Panyasurarit, inspector-general of the Labour Ministry, led officials to welcome the evacuees.
All underwent health and mental check-ups at the airport. Officials also gave advice about their rights to state assistance and debt suspension.
The latest planeload raised the total number of Thai evacuees to 4,296.
Another 235 were due back on EI AI Israel Airlines flight LY081 at 7.50pm on Wednesday.
According to labour officials at the Thai embassy in Tel Aviv 8,478 Thais have registered to return home and 123 have confirmed they want to stay in Israel.
The Thai death toll is now 30, with 19 abducted Thais and 18 wounded. Eight bodies have already been repatriated.
On Thursday, seven more Thai workers are due home from Israel at 10.35am.
Veeraphan Jabsaengchan, 39, of Phitsanulok was among the returnees on Wednesday. He said the situation in the border areas of Israel was tense and dangerous, including at the labour camp where he had been staying near Lebanon and Syria. He often heard gunfire and rockets passing overhead.
He had worked in Israel for 8-9 years, but would never return there, Mr Veeraphan said.
Prime Minister Srettha Thaivisin said officials met around noon on Wednesday to discuss ways to help people who had borrowed money to go and work in Israel.
He wanted Thai workers who decided to stay in Israel to think very carefully.
The situation in Israel was being assessed and it was bad. Israel would soon launch a ground operation, he said.
Israeli employers opted to delay payment of salaries and also offered higher pay, in an effort to keep Thais working there, the prime minister said.
He was awaiting a reply from the Israeli ambassador about ways to pressure Israeli employers who had yet to pay salaries to Thai workers.
During today's meeting, the issue of loans Thais had taken out to pay job brokerage fees as high as 150,000 baht per head was discussed.
If they returned home without getting money from their employers they would be in trouble. They still had to repay their debts, said Mr Sretha, who doubles as finance minister.
Deputy Finance Minister Kritsada Chinavicharana had suggested the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) might provide loans to this group of workers with an interest rate of only 0.1% over 20 years, or by paying about 600 baht a month, said Mr Srettha.
He declined to go into further detail. The issue had to be properly discussed first. He had discussed the matter with the Government Savings Bank (GSB) and the BACC.
