Two freed Thai hostages get married, plan to return to ‘safer place’ in Israel
Former Hamas captive Nutthawaree Munkan calls it ‘a miracle’ that she was able to leave Gaza, confesses ‘it is hard to picture how the remaining hostages will survive’
Thai nationals Nutthawaree Munkan and Boonthom Pankhong, former hostages in Gaza who were freed in late November, got married in a private ceremony in Thailand a few days ago, the Ynet news site reported Sunday.
The couple fell in love and began a relationship while working as agricultural laborers on a moshav in southern Israel, but were separated on October 7, when Hamas stormed Israeli border communities in an onslaught that killed 1,200 and saw 253 taken hostage, about 130 of whom still remain in Gaza.
Both Munkan and Pankhong were freed in November after 50 days of captivity as part of a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas that saw 105 hostages, including 23 Thai workers, released.
After recuperating in Israel, the couple reunited and returned to Thailand to settle in the Khon Kaen province of the country’s northeast.
“It was a small ceremony with only our parents and close relatives. It didn’t suit us to hold a big wedding ceremony,” Munkan told Ynet from Thailand.
She and her husband planned to get married long before their capture, and were working to “save money for a future together.”
Despite the immense hardship they faced as Hamas hostages, the couple intends to return to Israel for financial reasons, but “look for a safer place” rather than returning to somewhere close to the Gaza border.
“We decided together that we would do this in order to have the means to send our children to good schools and save money for when they grow up. I watched the news from Israel and saw missiles fell in the north, but it didn’t change our decision,” said Munkan.
“I can honestly say that we’re very worried about the captives, both Thais and Israelis,” said Munkan, who was the only woman among the Thai nationals who was taken captive. “We really wish for their return soon.”
Munkan confessed that she still constantly thinks back to what she endured as a Hamas hostage.
“It was like dying,” she said. “It was a miracle that I left Gaza. The current situation is cruel, and simply terrible.”
During her captivity in the Gaza Strip, Nutthawaree formed a friendship with an Israeli woman Danielle Aloni and her 5-year-old daughter Emilia, and reunited with them over video chat while recovering in the hospital.
“For both of us, captivity was like the end of our lives, and we have been free for a long time. I find it hard to understand how the remaining hostages will survive. I can’t stop thinking about them,” she said.
