The 5 captives have 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 12 months have returned residence after being released last month.
Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Sarusak Rumnao and Bannawat Saethao have 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, stated. “I don’t know what else to say, we’re all really grateful.”
Bannawat’s father, Somboon Saethao, stated he was “so blissful” and that his household would welcome his son residence with a standard Thai ceremony.
“I don’t assume 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.
![Freed Thai nationals with Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, third from right, and other officials at Bangkok airport on February 9, 2025 [Manan Vatsyayana/AFP]](https://veritasworldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/1739078662.webp)
The 5 males have 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 Overseas Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who escorted the captives again from Israel, expressed aid at their return. “That is emotional … to return again to the embrace of their households,” he stated. “We by no means gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra stated she was “elated” they have been out of captivity and thanked Israel, in addition to Qatar, Egypt, Iran, Turkiye and america for his or her work to safe the boys’s launch.
Reporting from Udon Thani in northeast Thailand the place two of the returnees’ households reside, Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, citing authorities officers, stated all 5 have been in good well being bodily. He stated the federal government would monitor them over the following 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 stated.
“His mom stated that in this complete interval, she stored her religion in God. She stated she was fairly 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 stated.
“We additionally spoke to his nine-year-old daughter, and he or she stated all she needed to do was give her dad a hug.”
A complete of 31 Thai nationals have been taken captive through the Hamas-led assault on Israel in October 2023, with 23 of them launched in 2023, whereas two individuals died in Might final 12 months.
Thailand’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs on Sunday stated one Thai nationwide remains to be believed to be held captive by Hamas.
“We nonetheless have hope and proceed to work to deliver them again,” Maris stated, speaking concerning the remaining captive and the our bodies of two deceased Thai nationals.
Earlier than the Gaza warfare, roughly 30,000 Thai labourers labored in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of many largest migrant employee teams within the nation. Almost 9,000 Thais have been repatriated because the warfare 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.
