Five Thai nationals held captive in Gaza for more than a year have returned home after being released last month.
Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Sarusak Rumnao and Bannawat Saethao were hugged by their families after they landed at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport on Sunday morning.
“We are all deeply touched to come back to our birthplace … to be standing here,” Pongsak, 36, said. “I don’t know what else to say, we are all truly thankful.”
Bannawat’s father, Somboon Saethao, said he was “so happy” and that his family would welcome his son home with a traditional Thai ceremony.
“I don’t think I want him to be far from home again,” Somboon, who comes from Nan province in northern Thailand, told the AFP news agency.
The five men were released last month in Khan Younis in southern Gaza as part of a ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel that paused the 15-month Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who escorted the captives back from Israel, expressed relief at their return. “This is emotional … to come back to the embrace of their families,” he said. “We never gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said she was “elated” they were out of captivity and thanked Israel, as well as Qatar, Egypt, Iran, Turkiye and the United States for their work to secure the men’s release.
Reporting from Udon Thani in northeast Thailand where two of the returnees’ families live, Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, citing government officials, said all five were in good health physically. He said the government would monitor them over the next couple of months to make sure they are able to go back to their normal lives.
“We spoke to the family of Sriaoun [one of the captives], and they are incredibly excited to welcome him home,” Cheng said.
“His mother said that during this entire period, she kept her faith in God. She said she was rather frustrated because there had been very little communication from the Thai government or the Israeli government during their captivity,” he said.
“We also spoke to his nine-year-old daughter, and she said all she wanted to do was give her dad a hug.”
A total of 31 Thai nationals were taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023, with 23 of them released in 2023, while two people died in May last year.
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday said one Thai national is still believed to be held captive in Gaza.
“We still have hope and continue to work to bring them back,” Maris said, talking about the remaining captive and the bodies of two deceased Thai nationals.
Before the war started, approximately 30,000 Thai labourers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country. Nearly 9,000 Thais have been repatriated since the war began.
The workers primarily come from Thailand’s northeastern region, an area comprising villages and farming communities that is among the poorest in the country.
