Prayers for Thai hostage in Gaza echo from a rural church
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“We can only pray to God,” says Mrs Wiwwaro Sriaoun, the mother of Mr Watchara Sriaoun, one of six Thais believed to be held captive by Hamas since October 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
KUT YANG, Thailand – Inside a church in north-eastern Thailand, members of the Sriaoun family gathered on Oct 6, their voices rising and falling in song, tears rolling down the eyes of some, as they prayed for the safe return of their oldest son.
Mr Watchara Sriaoun, 32, is one of six Thais believed to be held captive by Hamas since the war began in October 2023.
For a year now, the Sriaoun family, along with its fellow church members, has prayed every week for his return. But there has been scant news.
“We can only pray to God,” said Mrs Wiwwaro Sriaoun, Mr Watchara’s mother. “Asking people doesn’t give us answers, and even the village chief or headman cannot confirm anything.”
At least 240 people – Israelis and foreign nationals – were abducted to Gaza on Oct 7, 2023, by Hamas militants who burst across the border into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, according to the Israeli authorities.
The attack provoked an Israeli offensive, which, in the past 12 months, has laid waste to the Palestinian territory of Gaza and killed almost 42,000 people, according to the Palestinian health authorities.
Hamas gunmen killed 41 Thais and abducted 30 Thai labourers during the Oct 7 attack. Six Thais are still believed to be held captive by Hamas, according to Thailand’s Foreign Ministry.
Last week, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, in talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, requested support for the release of the remaining Thai hostages, according to a government statement.
Before the conflict erupted, some 30,000 Thai labourers worked in the agriculture sector, making them one of Israel’s largest migrant worker groups.
Mr Watchara and his younger brother went to Israel in 2020, hoping to clear the family’s debt of some 300,000 baht (S$12,000) and earn money for their father’s medical expenses.
Together, they sent 50,000 baht home each month to help pay off the debt and renovate the family home in Thailand’s rural heartland.
His younger brother has since returned home at their mother’s request.
Mrs Wiwwaro Sriaoun with her granddaughter Irada. The nine-year-old is the daughter of Mr Watchara Sriaoun, one of six Thais believed to be held captive by Hamas.
PHOTO: REUTERS
With a part of the three million baht compensation that it received in July from the Israeli government, the family paid off its debt and purchased some land that Mr Watchara had promised to buy for his mother.
But Mr Watchara’s absence is felt every day, especially by his nine-year-old daughter Irada, who also lost her mother in August.
“I wish for this brutal war to end,” Mrs Wiwwaro said, tears welling in her eyes.
“Everyone has suffered enough, and I have suffered enough, too, waiting for my son.” REUTERS
