Foreign Minister welcomes two more Thais released by Hamas

By Naewna newspaper and Reuters – published by CNA

FOREIGN Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-nukara before dawn today (Nov. 29) in Thailand and at 11 p.m. in Israel posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, that two more Thai hostages had been released by Hamas, Naewna newspaper said.

He was at the hospital where the two newly-released hostages were brought for a health check with the 17 other Thais who had been earlier freed standing there and waiting to cheer and welcome them.

In his message, Parnpree said the following:

“Approx. 11 p.m. local time. Happy to personally welcome 2 additional Thai hostages just released and arrived at the hospital in Tel Aviv. A totally warm feeling to see how the former 17 were lining up to welcome and give moral support to the two newcomers.”

More hostages freed

Hamas freed 12 more hostages and Israel released 30 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday (Nov 28), the fifth day of an extended six-day truce between the militant Palestinian group and Israel in the Gaza war.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the 12 hostages had been transferred from Gaza, and Israel’s military confirmed that the 10 Israeli citizens and two foreign nationals, later identified as Thais, were with its special forces on Israeli territory.

The hostages were among some 240 people seized by Hamas gunmen during a rampage into southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed. Israel’s bombardment of Hamas-ruled Gaza in retaliation has killed more than 15,000 Gazans, health authorities there said.

Live video images broadcast by Al Jazeera television on Tuesday showed a bus with Palestinian prisoners leaving Israel’s Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.

Israel said it freed 30 Palestinian detainees from Ofer and a detention centre in Jerusalem. Earlier it said they would be 15 women and 15 teenage males, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, a semi-official organisation.

Al Jazeera said the Palestinians had arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem.

A spokesman for the foreign ministry of Qatar, which is mediating in the conflict, said the freed Israeli hostages included nine women and one minor.

Some of the hostages were handed over by the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, it said on Telegram.

The truce has brought Gaza its first respite after seven weeks of fighting and bombardment that has reduced much of the Gaza Strip to rubble. It had been due to expire overnight into Tuesday but both sides agreed to extend the pause to allow for the release of more hostages held by Hamas and of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Israel has said the truce could be prolonged further, provided Hamas continues to free at least 10 Israeli hostages per day. But with fewer women and children still in captivity, keeping the guns quiet beyond Wednesday may require negotiating to free at least some Israeli men for the first time.

The total number of hostages released by Hamas since the start of the truce last Friday now stands at 81, including 60 Israelis – all women and children – and 21 foreign nationals, many of them Thai farm workers.

Israel had freed 150 prisoners before Tuesday’s releases.

The truce has brought Gaza its first respite after seven weeks of intensive Israeli bombardment prompted by the Hamas attack.

Gaza health authorities say more than 15,000 people have been confirmed killed in the Israeli onslaught on the Hamas-ruled territory, about 40 percent of them children, with many more dead and feared to be lost under rubble.

CAPTION:

Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-nukara welcoming the two newly freed Thais at a Tel Aviv hospital late last night (Israeli time). Photos shared by Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-nukara and Naewna newspaper