Key PointsVetoon Phoome’s family feared the Thai farm worker had been killed by Hamas, until they learned he had been freed.Vetoon, 33, who has been living in Israel for five years, is one of 10 Thai hostages recently freed by Hamas.The 10 Thais are among 24 hostages freed on Friday in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Vetoon Phoome’s family feared the Thai farm worker had been killed by Hamas when it attacked Israel — until they learned he had been freed as a hostage in Gaza.
“He told me not to cry, to tell mother I’m coming back,” Roongarun Wichagern told Reuters of her younger brother after an emotional reunion on a video call.
Vetoon, 33, who has been living in Israel for five years, is one of 10 Thai hostages freed by Hamas during the first truce of a seven-week-old war that started with
“He said ‘I’m not dead, I’m not dead’,” Roongarun said, calling his survival a “miracle”.
Twenty Thai nationals still held by Hamas
The 10 Thais are among 24 hostages freed on Friday in exchange for 39 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Thailand’s government said 20 of its nationals remained captive.
The freed Thai hostages will return home after 48 hours in hospital, Thailand’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Hamas released 10 Thai migrant workers who were abducted in Gaza on 07 October 2023, following the Israel and Hamas four-day ceasefire agreement. Source: AAP / Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Four of them had not previously been confirmed by Israel to be in captivity.
“I’m very happy to hear about the confirmation of the release of 10 Thai workers who are being treated at Shamir Medical Centre in Israel under the co-ordinated effort of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin posted on social media.
He called for the release of the remaining “innocent Thai hostages as soon as possible”.
About 30,000 Thai nationals work in Israel, forming one of its largest groups of migrant workers, many in agriculture.
Vetoon’s family never lost hope he was still alive
Vetoon told his family he had cried out “Thailand, Thailand!” when militants approached on October 7, and was captured and held in tunnels, although not injured or tortured, Roongarun said.
He was given food and water and did not appear to have lost weight, she said.
His friends believed he had died but the family followed the news “without sleeping”, hoping he had been taken hostage.
“I saw the news hostages would be released, and then someone sent a photo,” Roongarun said.
“It was clearly my little brother.”
A Thai female migrant worker (right) who was released by the militant group Hamas receives a medical health check at Shamir Medical Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, Source: AAP / Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The released captives included the only Thai woman known to be held by Hamas, a factory worker and mother from an impoverished rural area that many leave to seek opportunities abroad.
Photographs from the Thai foreign ministry showed them meeting doctors at a medical centre in Israel.
Thai ministry thanks parties involved in securing release
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.
The ministry thanked the governments of Egypt, Iran, Israel, Malaysia, Qatar and the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as others involved in the “immense efforts” that led to the release.
Earlier reports had said about a dozen Thais had been released.
Thongkoon Onkaew told Reuters authorities said her son, Natthaporn Onkaew, a 26-year-old farm worker, was not among the first group released.
“I’m waiting for good news,” she said.
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