17 Thai hostages set to return home on Nov 30 after release by Hamas
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The 17 freed Thai nationals will return to Bangkok with Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara.
PHOTO: REUTERS
BANGKOK – The 17 Thai hostages kidnapped and held for weeks in the Gaza Strip by Hamas will arrive back in the kingdom on Nov 30, officials said.
Roughly a dozen Thais remain among the hostages taken by the armed group during an Oct 7 attack on southern Israel, according to Thailand’s Foreign Ministry.
The ministry confirmed on Nov 29 that 17 freed Thais would return home the next day, touching down in capital Bangkok shortly after midday.
The former hostages will be accompanied by Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, who flew to Israel to meet them earlier this week.
On Nov 24, 10 of the group were released, as a truce began following weeks of negotiations brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States.
Seven more were set free by Hamas in the days that followed.
The group has since been recuperating at a hospital in Israel as the authorities prepare to fly them home, Thai officials said.
Two more Thai hostages were released late on Nov 28, but a Foreign Ministry official said they would remain in hospital in Israel for now and return later.
“A totally warm feeling to see how the former 17 were lining up to welcome and give moral support to the two newcomers,” Mr Parnpree posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
The returning Thais were among some 240 people Hamas captured on Oct 7. The armed group also killed 1,200 people, the Israeli authorities said.
Israel retaliated with a massive campaign of air, artillery and naval strikes alongside a ground offensive into Gaza.
The Israeli action has killed nearly 15,000 people in Gaza, thousands of them children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run government.
About 30,000 Thais were working in Israel, mostly in the agriculture sector, at the time of the attacks, according to the Thai Labour Ministry.
A total of 39 Thai citizens have been killed and 19 wounded in the war, with the kingdom evacuating more than 8,500 of its people, according to Bangkok’s Foreign Ministry. AFP
