Seventeen Thai nationals who had been held hostage by the militant Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, have arrived back in Bangkok. The group is among 23 Thai hostages who have so far been released from Gaza. Nine remain in captivity. DW’s Georg Matthes went to Udon Thani in north-eastern Thailand to meet some of those people who were affected.
#Hamas #HamasHostage #ThaiHostageHamas #ThaiHostagesReleased #IsraelHamasWar #HamasGroup #ThaiHostagesReleasedNews
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#Hamas #HamasHostage #ThaiHostageHamas #ThaiHostagesReleased #IsraelHamasWar #HamasGroup #ThaiHostagesReleasedNews
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NewsTranscript
00:00 This little girl and her grandmother have just had the best news.
00:06 The girl's father was one of the 10 Thai hostages recently released by Hamas.
00:11 This house is why he was in Israel.
00:13 He paid for it with money he earned there.
00:18 The house was almost finished.
00:21 Everything was paid for.
00:22 And my husband was installing the bathroom.
00:25 When we got the news, our son had been abducted.
00:28 So we stopped everything until now.
00:32 Vittawa Kornlawung returned just a few days after the attack.
00:36 He's home and he's safe, but can't sleep without pills.
00:41 He was working in a poultry farm near Gaza on October 7th.
00:46 A Hamas terrorist attacked him.
00:53 He stabbed me several times and cut me in the head.
00:59 And then I grabbed the knife and broke it.
01:04 We kept fighting for a long time until I lost consciousness.
01:11 Now he's recovering back on the family farm.
01:14 Despite his injuries, he says, working in Israel was worth the risk.
01:19 He earned about a thousand euros a month there.
01:22 Four times the Thai minimum wage.
01:25 The pull that kind of money exerts is clear here at the Udontani labor department.
01:32 Many of these people are applying to work abroad.
01:35 Numbers are down a little, but are expected to pick up soon.
01:40 Around 3,000 locals are still working in Israel.
01:45 The salary they get abroad is so high.
01:48 Even if people have higher education, many will still choose to work abroad and work
01:52 on farms.
01:58 This woman's eldest son was one of those working on an Israeli farm.
02:02 He was killed in the Hamas attack.
02:05 His younger brothers are also working abroad in Taiwan, sending money back to the family.
02:12 I don't want to send any of my children abroad, but we have no choice.
02:17 We're a poor farming family here, and if they want to go, I won't stop them.
02:26 Despite his experience in Israel, Wittawa Gonlawung is thinking about going abroad again
02:31 for work.
02:33 He started building a house, but has no more money and no job here.
02:37 He'll likely leave again for work, but says next time, he'll go somewhere else.
02:42 [ Foreign Language ]