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Five Thai males held hostage for 15 months in Gaza have arrived again of their residence nation the place they had been reunited with their households.
Pongsak Thaenna, 36, Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, had been launched by militants on 30 January as a part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Mr Pongsak stated all the group “feel grateful and are so delighted to return to our motherland once again”.
In emotional scenes at Suvarnabhumi Airport within the Thai capital Bangkok on Sunday, they had been met with embraces from their family members, a few of whom cried.
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Bannawat Saethao (second from left) hugs family on the airport. Pic: AP
The farm employees had been assessed at a hospital exterior Tel Aviv earlier than their return. Earlier this week, 4 of them had been joined by one relative every.
The 5 had been taken throughout Hamas’s cross-border assault in southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when 1,200 folks had been killed and about 250 others kidnapped.
During the assault, gunmen killed 41 Thais and seized 31 others, making them the biggest group of foreigners held captive in Gaza.
Praise for Thailand’s authorities
Speaking throughout a information convention, Mr Pongsak praised officers for serving to to get the group freed.
He stated: “I would like to thank the prime minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labour and relevant officers who helped us to be released.
“For right this moment I get to be standing proper right here. It would not have occurred if it wasn’t due to every certainly one of you who supplied help.
“All of us here feel grateful and are so delighted to return to our motherland once again. We all thank you very much. I don’t know what to say. Thank you very much.”
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Pongsak’s father, Wilas Thaenna, 64, from Buriram province, stated he was feeling “very very glad. I’m so touched”.
“I was so overwhelmed. I was speechless.”
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Surasak Rumnao, Sathian Suwannakham, Bannawat Saethao, Watchara Sriaoun, and Pongsak Thaenna. Pic: Reuters
The group then left to return to their hometowns in Thailand’s northern and northeastern areas.
‘We by no means gave up’
Thai overseas minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who escorted the hostages again from Israel, expressed reduction at their return.
“This is emotional… to come back to the embrace of their families,” he stated. “We never gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
It comes a day after Hamas handed over three Israeli hostages whose gaunt look shocked Israelis, and Israel freed dozens of Palestinian prisoners within the newest stage of a fragile ceasefire aimed toward ending the Gaza battle.
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183 Palestinians freed in change for 3 Israelis
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Many of the Thai agricultural employees lived in compounds on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and cities, and Hamas militants overran these locations first.
The 5 now again residence had been the second batch of Thai hostages freed because the battle broke out in October 2023.
During a ceasefire-hostage deal in November 2023, some 23 Thais had been launched in an settlement negotiated between Thailand and Hamas, with help from Qatar and Iran.
A Thai nationwide remains to be believed to be held captive by Hamas, based on Thailand’s overseas ministry.
“We still have hope and continue to work to bring them back,” Mr Maris stated, including that this contains the our bodies of two Thais.
More than 47,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s offensive, stated the Hamas-run well being ministry.
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