BANGKOK — 5 Thai employees launched after being held hostage for over a 12 months in Gaza arrived in Bangkok on Sunday.
Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, have been freed on Jan. 30 as a part of an trade association.
They have been embraced by members of the family, a few of whom cried, within the arrivals corridor at Suvarnabhumi airport. Thai Overseas Minister Maris Sagniampongsa and the Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Orna Sagiv have been each on the airport to welcome house the freed hostages.
“We’re all very grateful and really glad that we get to return to our homeland. All of us would like to thanks. I don’t know what else to say,” Pongsak instructed a information convention on the airport.
Maris mentioned the Thai authorities “by no means gave up hope and right here is the end result right this moment. The tears of pleasure are our encouragement.” He added that Bangkok would proceed working to safe the discharge of the remaining Thai hostage.
The group shortly left the information convention to return to their hometowns in Thailand’s northern and northeastern areas.
They have been the second batch of Thai hostages launched for the reason that battle broke out. Throughout an earlier ceasefire in November 2023, 23 Thai nationals have been launched in a deal negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with help from Qatar and Iran.
All 5 males have been assessed at a hospital outdoors Tel Aviv previous to their return. 4 of them have been joined by one relative every earlier this week. The journey was sponsored by the Israeli authorities, in response to the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Hamas militants kidnapped 31 Thai nationals through the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel, making them the most important group of foreigners held captive. Most of the Thai agricultural employees lived in compounds on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and cities, and Hamas militants overran these locations first.
A complete of 46 Thais have been killed through the battle, together with two Thai residents who have been killed through the assault and their our bodies taken into Gaza, in response to Thailand’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs.
There was no rapid data out there about Nattapong Pingsa, who’s the final Thai hostage left in Gaza, nor the 2 Thai employees whose our bodies have been taken into Gaza.
Maris, the Thai international minister, traveled to Israel to go to the 5 freed males shortly after their launch. Maris met together with his Israeli counterparts searching for assist to safe the discharge of the remaining Thai hostage and retrieve the our bodies of the 2 deceased Thais.
Thai employees stay the most important group of international agricultural laborers in Israel. The international locations applied a bilateral settlement a decade in the past particularly easing the way in which for Thai agricultural employees. Many Palestinian employees had since returned, and earlier than the Hamas assault about half of Israel’s workforce was made up of international and Palestinian laborers.
