Five Thai men held hostage for 15 months in Gaza have arrived back in their home country where they were reunited with their families.
Pongsak Thaenna, 36, Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, were released by militants on 30 January as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Mr Pongsak said all of the group “feel grateful and are so delighted to return to our motherland once again”.
In emotional scenes at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the Thai capital Bangkok on Sunday, they were met with embraces from their loved ones, some of whom cried.
The farm workers were assessed at a hospital outside Tel Aviv before their return. Earlier this week, four of them were joined by one relative each.
The five had been taken during Hamas’s cross-border attack in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others kidnapped.
During the assault, the gunmen killed 41 Thais and seized 31 others, making them the largest group of foreigners held captive in Gaza.
Praise for Thailand’s government
Speaking during a news conference, Mr Pongsak praised officials for helping to get the group freed.
He said: “I would like to thank the prime minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labour and relevant officers who helped us to be released.
“For today I get to be standing right here. It wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t because of each one of you who provided assistance.
“All of us here feel grateful and are so delighted to return to our motherland once again. We all thank you very much. I don’t know what to say. Thank you very much.”
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Pongsak’s father, Wilas Thaenna, 64, from Buriram province, said he was feeling “very very glad. I’m so touched”.
“I was so overwhelmed. I was speechless.”
Surasak Rumnao, Sathian Suwannakham, Bannawat Saethao, Watchara Sriaoun, and Pongsak Thaenna. Pic: Reuters
The group then left to return to their hometowns in Thailand’s northern and northeastern regions.
‘We never gave up’
Thai foreign minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who escorted the hostages back from Israel, expressed relief at their return.
“This is emotional… to come back to the embrace of their families,” he said. “We never gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
It comes a day after Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages whose gaunt appearance shocked Israelis, and Israel freed dozens of Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage of a delicate ceasefire aimed at ending the Gaza war.
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183 Palestinians freed in exchange for three Israelis
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Many of the Thai agricultural workers lived in compounds on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and towns, and Hamas militants overran those places first.
The five now back home were the second batch of Thai hostages freed since the war broke out in October 2023.
During a ceasefire-hostage deal in November 2023, some 23 Thais were released in an agreement negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with assistance from Qatar and Iran.
A Thai national is still believed to be held captive by Hamas, according to Thailand’s foreign ministry.
“We still have hope and continue to work to bring them back,” Mr Maris said, adding that this includes the bodies of two Thais.
More than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
