5 Thai hostages released from hospital, 10 days after they were freed by Hamas
Pongsak Thenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Seathao and Surasak Lamnau spent 482 days in Hamas captivity, are now set to fly back to Thailand
The five Thai hostages who were released by Gazan terrorists last month were discharged from the hospital on Saturday after undergoing 10 days of medical treatment and observation.
After their release from the Shamir Medical Center, the five were set to fly home to Thailand alongside members of their families.
Upon their exit from the hospital, the five were greeted by a crowd of Israelis waving Thai and Israeli flags.
Pongsak Thenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Seathao and Surasak Lamnau were freed after 482 days in captivity in Gaza.
The five had been working in Israeli communities close to the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages.
The five were released in a chaotic scene in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, along with Israelis Arbel Yehoud and Gadi Mozes on January 30.
The Thai nationals, who were among 31 foreign workers kidnapped in the Hamas attack, were released outside the framework of a hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that came into effect last week.
Tens of thousands of laborers from Southeast Asia were working in Israel when the Hamas attack unfolded.
Thai nationals working in fields and farms near Gaza were by far the largest group and the most heavily affected.
A total of 46 Thai workers were killed in the October 2023 attacks, according to the foreign ministry in Bangkok.
During a November 2023 ceasefire-hostage deal, 23 Thai hostages were released.
Thailand has about 30,000 citizens in Israel, most of them working in the agricultural sector, where they earn significantly higher salaries as laborers than they would at home.
Most Thai nationals in the country returned home after the Hamas attack, but the number of migrant workers has been steadily growing again.
Thailand’s Ministry of Labor said last week that the country would expand its workforce in Israel by 13,000 positions.
As of Saturday, 16 Israeli hostages of the 33 children, women and older men set to be released in the first, 42-day phase of the agreement have come home, along with the five Thai hostages. Hundreds of Palestinian terror convicts have been released under the deal.
Seventy-three of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014.
