BANGKOK – 5 Thai staff launched after being held hostage for over a yr in Gaza arrived in Bangkok on Sunday.
Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, were freed on Jan. 30 as a part of an alternate 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 residence the freed hostages.
“We’re all very grateful and really comfortable 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 at present. 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 conflict broke out. Throughout an earlier ceasefire in November 2023, 23 Thai nationals were released in a deal negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with help from Qatar and Iran.
All 5 males were assessed at a hospital exterior 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 accordance with 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. Many of the Thai agricultural staff 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 accordance with Thailand’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs.
There was no rapid data accessible about Nattapong Pingsa, who’s the final Thai hostage left in Gaza, nor the 2 Thai staff 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 in search of help to safe the discharge of the remaining Thai hostage and retrieve the our bodies of the 2 deceased Thais.
Thai staff 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 staff. Many Palestinian staff had since returned, and earlier than the Hamas assault about half of Israel’s workforce was made up of international and Palestinian laborers.
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