5 Thai hostages return home after being released in Hamas

BANGKOK — Five Thai hostages, who have spent 15 months detaining Hamas for 15 months, arrived in Bangkok early Sunday after being released last month.

The group consisting of Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, is the person who Israel was hit with Hamas last month. As part of a pawn prisoner exchange transaction It has been released.

They followed their family at Svarnabumi Airport, along with Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sanyanponsa and Thai Israeli Ambassador Oona Sagib, homelands in northern and northeastern Thailand.

According to the Thai Foreign Ministry, one of the highest deaths among foreigners, on October 7, 2023 in Hamas, 46 Thais were killed in Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel. Thirty-one other people were taken back to the Gaza Strip as hostages, 23 of them were released in November 2023 during an early ceasefire. Two other Thai hostages have since been confirmed to be dead.

Five of the remaining six hostages were released on January 31 as part of the second round release by the Palestinian extremist group of Israeli ambassador Pannabachandraramiya, Palestinian extremist groups.

Upon their release, they spent several days at a hospital outside Tel Aviv where they received medical tests and recovered. The four hostage families met them in Israel on Wednesday, Thai Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

They were also visited by a Thai delegation, including the Foreign Minister.

The status of Nattapong Pinsa, the remaining Thai hostage, is unknown, and Hamas still holds the bodies of two Thais confirmed to be dead.

Additionally, Hamas also holds the bodies of another foreigner, Bipin Joshi, a Nepal agricultural student, and Joshua Morel, a Tanzanian student.

With a population of 9 million, Israel relies heavily on foreign labor in sectors such as agriculture, construction and nursing care. The country has historically relied on Palestinian labor, but Israel began recruiting foreign workers after the Palestinian rebellion that ended in 1993.

The Thais arrive in large numbers, portrayed at higher wages than they can return home, and continue to be the largest group of foreign farm workers in the country.

According to Chandraramya, nearly 25,000 Thais were working in Israel prior to the attack on October 7th.

“They were working tirelessly on the farm and at the kibbutz,” she told reporters last week.

After the attack, many workers fled jobs in Israel, which began to provide higher salaries and began recruiting in countries including India to ensure a critical supply of foreign labor.

The Thais have since gone to Israel in larger numbers than before.

“Most Thai workers love working here,” Chandraramiya said. “A lot more than that.”