Thailand’s Foreign Minister and Army Chief to Travel to Israel to Bring Freed Hostages Back
Vetoon Phoome’s family feared the worst when they thought he had been killed by Hamas in last month’s attack on Israel. But on Saturday, they received the news that he had been freed along with other Thai hostages in Gaza.
“He told me not to cry, to tell mother I’m coming back,” Vetoon’s sister, Roongarun Wichagern, told Reuters after an emotional reunion with him via video call.
Vetoon, 33, who has been living in Israel for five years, was one of 10 Thai hostages freed by Hamas during the first truce of a seven-week-old war that started with the Palestinian militant group’s October 7 assault on southern Israel.
“He said, ‘I’m not dead, I’m not dead’,” Roongarun said, calling his survival a “miracle”.
The 10 Thais were among 24 hostages freed on Friday in a deal negotiated in parallel with the truce and an exchange of 39 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Thailand’s government said 20 of its nationals are still captive.
Thailand’s foreign minister and army chief will travel to Israel to bring the freed hostages back, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told reporters, adding that his government was still trying to secure the release of the remaining captives.
“We will not stop. We will bring them back,” he said.
The release was facilitated by Iran, which provided a list of names to Hamas following a request from Thailand’s Foreign Ministry and a parliamentary speaker. Thailand had also provided lists to other actors involved in the negotiations.
About 30,000 Thai nationals work in Israel, forming one of its largest groups of migrant workers, many in agriculture. Vetoon, who was held in tunnels by the militants, was not wounded or tortured, and did not appear to have lost weight, according to his sister.
The released captives also included the only Thai woman known to be held by Hamas, a factory worker and mother from a poor rural area where many people leave to seek job opportunities abroad.
Photographs from the Thai Foreign Ministry showed them meeting doctors at a medical centre in Israel. They will return home after 48 hours in hospital, the ministry said, thanking Egypt, Iran, Israel, Malaysia, Qatar, and the International Committee of the Red Cross for “immense efforts” on the deal to free them.
A source briefed on the negotiations said the release was unrelated to the truce deal with Israel and followed a separate track of talks with Hamas mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
Thongkoon Onkaew told Reuters authorities had said her son, Natthaporn Onkaew, a 26-year-old farm worker, was not among the first group released, but she added that she was “waiting for good news.”