Five Thai citizens who were held by Hamas for over a year returned to Thailand on Sunday and gathered with their tearful families at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.
The returnees, dressed in winter jackets, came up with emotional hugs from their families.
“We are all deeply touched to return to our place of birth … to stand here,” said Pongsak Thaenna, one of the returnees. “I don’t know what else to say, we are all really grateful.”
According to the Israeli authorities, the Hamas militants kidnapped at least 240 people in South Israel in an attack in October 2023, including Israelis and foreign nationals. During the attack, the Hamas -armed men killed 41 Thais and kidnapped 30 Thai workers. Later this year, the first group was returned by Thai hostages.
The Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who brought the hostages of Israel back, commented on relief when she returned. “This is emotional … to come back to the hugging of your families,” he said. “We never gave up and that was the fruit of it.”
Before the conflict, around 30,000 Thai citizens worked in the Israeli agricultural sector and made them one of the country’s largest migrant groups. Almost 9,000 Thai countries were returned after the attack.
The workers come mainly from the northeastern region of Thailand, an area that includes villages and farmers, which are among the poorest in the country.
The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that a Thai citizen was still captured by Hamas.
“We still have hope and continue to work on bringing them back,” said Maris, adding that this comprises the corpses of two deceased Thai nationals.
The Hamas published 3 Israel and five Thai citizens in a chaotic hostage -transfer situation in Gaza, which prompted Israel to briefly delay the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.
