Hard hit by the loss of Thai and Palestinian workers, Israeli farmers are calling for volunteers

The day after Hamas’s horrific attack, Mr. Swissa, the strawberry farmer, was confronted with a reality: There was no one to do the crucial prep work to ensure his strawberry plants would thrive and be ready for the winter harvest.

He decided to scale back production, but he still needed volunteers to save some of his harvest.

After they didn’t show up last Monday, he contacted a nonprofit. Word quickly spread on social media that he was “desperate” for volunteers.

By Tuesday morning, he had received 2,000 calls and 3,000 text messages. More than 150 people, including a bus full of high school students, reported to the fields.

Mr. Swissa barked orders at them in vain. Subsequently, several adults appointed themselves crew leaders, dividing the tasks among the different teams.

“I didn’t know anything about this work before this morning,” said Ofer Buchnik, a software engineer who brought his teenage son along as a volunteer. Under the blistering sun, they stretched long plastic sheeting over rows of small strawberry plants and placed bags full of soil next to them to hold them down.

“We thought we would pitch in one day, but we see a great need for it,” said Alon Shachar, a team leader, adding, “I’ll be back tomorrow.” Others also said they planned to return.

By early afternoon, most of one field was ready and strawberry sprouts were poking out of the ground.

Mr. Swissa beamed. “Israel must fight the war and bring back the hostages,” he said. “Farms must continue to work to feed our people.”

Then a volunteer, Schlomit Eliakim, shouted with her fingers deep in the mud: “What will happen when we have to go back to work? That is the big question.”