The 5 captives had been launched final month in Khan Younis in southern Gaza as a part of a ceasefire settlement between Hamas and Israel.
5 Thai nationals held captive by Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza for greater than a yr have returned residence after being released last month.
Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Sarusak Rumnao and Bannawat Saethao had been hugged by their households after they landed at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport on Sunday morning.
“We’re all deeply touched to return again to our birthplace … to be standing right here,” Pongsak, 36, mentioned. “I don’t know what else to say, we’re all really grateful.”
Bannawat’s father, Somboon Saethao, mentioned he was “so comfortable” and that his household would welcome his son residence with a conventional Thai ceremony.
“I don’t suppose I would like him to be removed from residence once more,” Somboon, who comes from Nan province in northern Thailand, informed the AFP information company.
The 5 males had been launched final month in Khan Younis in southern Gaza as a part of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel that paused the 15-month Israeli assaults on Gaza.
Thai International Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who escorted the captives again from Israel, expressed reduction at their return. “That is emotional … to return again to the embrace of their households,” he mentioned. “We by no means gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra mentioned she was “elated” they had been out of captivity and thanked Israel, in addition to Qatar, Egypt, Iran, Turkiye and america for his or her work to safe the lads’s launch.
Reporting from Udon Thani in northeast Thailand the place two of the returnees’ households dwell, Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, citing authorities officers, mentioned all 5 had been in good well being bodily. He mentioned the federal government would monitor them over the subsequent couple of months to verify they can return to their regular lives.
“We spoke to the household of Sriaoun [one of the captives], and they’re extremely excited to welcome him residence,” Cheng mentioned.
“His mom mentioned that in this complete interval, she stored her religion in God. She mentioned she was reasonably pissed off as a result of there had been little or no communication from the Thai authorities or the Israeli authorities throughout their captivity,” he mentioned.
“We additionally spoke to his nine-year-old daughter, and she or he mentioned all she needed to do was give her dad a hug.”
A complete of 31 Thai nationals had been taken captive throughout the Hamas-led assault on Israel in October 2023, with 23 of them launched in 2023, whereas two individuals died in Might final yr.
Thailand’s Ministry of International Affairs on Sunday mentioned one Thai nationwide remains to be believed to be held captive by Hamas.
“We nonetheless have hope and proceed to work to convey them again,” Maris mentioned, speaking concerning the remaining captive and the our bodies of two deceased Thai nationals.
Earlier than the Gaza conflict, roughly 30,000 Thai labourers labored in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of many largest migrant employee teams within the nation. Practically 9,000 Thais have been repatriated because the conflict started.
The employees primarily come from Thailand’s northeastern area, an space comprising villages and farming communities that’s among the many poorest within the nation.
