Hamas terrorists called out to workers from Thailand in their native tongue to lure them out of hiding, only to murder them or take them hostage during the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
The Times of Israel reports Hamas’s brutality against innocent civilians on the day they made their bloody incursion has been recounted by former Thai hostages. The outlet says:
One of the Thai survivors, nicknamed Top, recounted his near-death experience on October 7, 2023. Initially, he dismissed the sound of gunfire as a routine clash between Israeli forces and Hamas. However, by 7:00 a.m., the reality of the massacre unfolded — four armed Hamas militants stormed a nearby labor camp, indiscriminately gunning down every Thai worker in sight. Top managed to hide inside a bunker, narrowly escaping the same fate.
By 4:00 p.m., Hamas fighters regrouped around the labor camp. Then came an eerie moment he never expected: one of the militants greeted him in Thai: “Sawasdee Kub Khon Thai” (Hello, Thai people). Immediately after, they fired rounds into the air, before setting fire to the room where he was hiding. In that moment, he believed he was doomed. He held his breath for over 20 minutes, but as the smoke thickened, he could no longer endure it. Desperate, he broke down the door and ran into the nearby forest. Miraculously, by then, Hamas had already left.
Another survivor, nicknamed Lord, who found himself in a similar situation, described how Hamas meticulously raided each labor camp, slaughtering every unarmed worker they encountered. Those who did not die from gunfire were executed with knives in gruesome beheadings. When Hamas failed to locate the remaining Thai workers, they resorted to deception — driving into the camp while calling out in Thai, offering to sell ducks and chickens.
According to Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 44 Thais were killed during Hamas’s murderous attack on southern Israel. The conflict, including the two who died in Hamas captivity.
Israel is committed to releasing all the hostages, regardless of nationality.
In this image released by Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv, five Thai hostages who were freed from Hamas pose for a picture with Thai Ambassador to Israel Pannabha Chandraramya, center, in Israel, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv via AP)
There are still one Thai, one Nepali and one Tanzanian hostage, as well as the bodies of a Tanzanian and the two Thais being held in Gaza, according to the prime minister’s office.
Israel hopes all the international hostages will be released, both living and dead, which Israel and Hamas will begin discussing next week.
