Thailand’s foreign minister said Tuesday that officials he met in Qatar and Egypt had indicated that Thai hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups would be released next because they had nothing to do with the war.
Thai officials pushing for the release of 24 Thai farm workers have seen photos of the hostages kidnapped in southern Israel on October 7, Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said.
Thai nationals make up the second largest group after Israelis of the estimated 240 hostages.
Thailand has attempted to contact Hamas through intermediary governments in Iran, Qatar, Egypt and Malaysia. Officials from Malaysia, which hosts Hamas-affiliated officials and does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, have told their counterparts in Thailand that the Thai hostages are alive, and the Thai army chief, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, has seen photos of the prisoners, said on Monday.
Mr. Srettha did not provide information about how many hostages were depicted in the photos. However, he said he was confident the Thais would be released once the Israeli bombardment of Gaza eases.
Mr. Parnpree traveled to the Middle East last week to work toward her release. On Tuesday, he said he had also seen photos of hostages in the “Gaza area,” but they were blurry and he could not be sure whether the people were Thai.
Aside from two videos released by Hamas, few images of the hostages in captivity have been seen publicly since the kidnappings. Last month, photos posted on social media showed a group of Thai hostages, reportedly in Gaza, sitting cross-legged while a masked man pointed an assault rifle at them. It was not clear whether the photos Mr. Parnpree said he saw were different from those previously released.
In total, four hostages were released from Gaza and one was rescued by Israeli forces.
The hostages in the photos seen by Mr. Parnpree had black hair, he said, were sitting cross-legged in a room with people of other nationalities and looked “alive.” They were obviously not tied up, he said.
Officials in Qatar and Egypt told him that the Thais in Gaza were being held in two or three separate groups and that some were being held by armed groups other than Hamas.
To be released, the Thais would have to be brought together to find safety in Egypt, Mr Parnpree said. The Egyptian government is ready to take the hostages at the Rafah border crossing, he said.
About 30,000 Thais were working on farms in Israel when Hamas fighters poured across the border from the Gaza Strip last month. At least 34 people were killed in the terrorist attacks, the Thai Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. Israelis who have helped the traumatized Thai community there estimate that 80 Thais were killed, taken hostage or missing and presumed dead.
Muslim negotiators from Thailand traveled to Tehran late last month to meet with Iranian and Hamas officials who promised to work to free the hostages, one of the negotiators said. About 10 percent of people in Buddhist-majority Thailand are Muslim. Most Thai farmworkers in Israel are Buddhists from the country’s impoverished northeast.
On Tuesday, Watsana Yojampa, the mother of Anucha Angkaew, one of the suspected Thai hostages whose photo in detention was posted on social media last month, said she had not had any communication with Thai or Israeli government officials about her son’s status.
Still, Ms. Watsana’s mood improved after hearing Thai news reports about the photos and the negotiations, she said.
“I have hope now,” Ms. Watsana said. “I feel lighter.”