Thai workers held hostage by Hamas describe kidnappings and recovery after release

Amna Nawaz:

Before the war in Gaza resumed, the main focus of negotiations had been the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians held by Israel. But of the 240 hostages, dozens were migrant workers from Thailand, the Philippines, Tanzania and Nepal.

Nick Schifrin has some of their stories.

Nick Schifrin:

After the kidnapping, after seven weeks of captivity, after the release, and after the flight back home, there is reunion. Two mothers hug their daughters after 50 days without contact.

Bunyarin Srichan ties a Buddhist bracelet on her daughter Natthawaree Mulkan and Natthawaree's partner, Boonthom Phankhong, after they were held hostage by Hamas. And Natthawaree embraces her own daughter, grateful to be home, surrounded by family.

Natthawaree Mulkan, Freed Hamas Hostage (through interpreter):

It's like dying and being reborn.

Natthawaree and Boonthom Phankhong had lived in Israel for four years, two of 30,000 Thais working Israeli agriculture, when, on October 7, Hamas and other militants rampaged through communities across Southern Israel, including theirs. They were kidnapped together.

Boonthom Phankhong, Free Hamas Hostage (through interpreter):

We kept encouraging each other, saying that we had to survive, that there will be agencies coming to help us. All we could do was sit and wait, lying there, waiting and giving each other strength.

Nick Schifrin:

In total, 32 Thai workers were kidnapped. So far, 23 of them have been released in a separate hostage deal between Thailand and Hamas mediated by Qatar, Iran and other nations.

Kriengsak Phansuree, Survived Hamas Attack (through interpreter):

I want to know why Hamas hurt Thai people and took them hostage, because Thai people didn't hurt them or do anything bad to them.

Nick Schifrin:

Kriengsak Phansuree is also grateful to be home with his children and wife, Amornthip Pathumrath. And he's grateful to be able to do the school run, knowing how close he was to not coming home.

He worked in Moshav Mivtahim, just five miles from Gaza. In Hebrew, it means Safe Haven.

Kriengsak Phansuree (through interpreter):

I heard the sounds of the rocket launchers and sounds of the bombs. That's a normal situation I always hear. I wasn't shocked or scared. But after that, I heard the sounds of heavy weapons shooting inside the camp. That had never happened before. Not long after that, they walked into the camp.

Nick Schifrin:

Hamas fighters spoke to the workers in Thai to try to convince them to come out of hiding.

Kriengsak Phansuree (through interpreter):

I hid until the evening. Then I came back inside the camp and went to my room. I prepared to cook dinner, because I thought the fighting was finished. But not long after that, they came back to the camp again. They shot at us while I cooked dinner, and I ran and hid in the crops.

Nick Schifrin:

In total, he hid for 20 hours. The dormitory where he lived was burned to the ground.

Amornthip Pathumrath, Wife of Survivor (through interpreter): couldn't eat or sleep. I couldn't stay still. So I walked around the house back and forth because I worried that he wouldn't be able to come home. I was afraid that he was going to get killed.

Nick Schifrin:

On October the 7th, Palestinian militants killed at least 39 Thai workers. And the victims were not only Thai.

Clemence Matanga, one of 200 Tanzanian agricultural students in Israel, was buried this week after being murdered in kibbutz Nir Oz. And 21-year-old Joshua Mollel remains missing. His family believes he's a Hamas hostage. He derived in Israel only three weeks before the attack. It was his first time leaving Tanzania. He dreamed of becoming an agriculture expert.

Loitu Mollel is his father.

Loitu Mollel, Father of Joshua Mollel: Joshua is a kind person, hardworking. He is a student. He is innocent boy. The message which I want to pass to Joshua, if he can hear this voice just to be strong. We know that, by hoping and pray, he's going to be released soon. So let him be strong.

Nick Schifrin:

Workers like him have long been Israel's agricultural backbone, but long before the October 7 attack, they were vulnerable and often invisible.

Matan Kaminer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: This is a population of people who are doing dirty, dangerous and difficult work that Israelis are not willing to do.

Nick Schifrin:

Matan Kaminer is an anthropologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who studied Israel's Thai migrant community for the last decade.

Matan Kaminer:

There are grievous violations of housing practices, health and safety protections. These people who are among the most vulnerable, even in everyday circumstances, were among the hardest hit by the violence.

For the first time, people are realizing what sacrifices these people have had to make, murdered, some of them, in quite horrific ways, whether it is being abducted into the Gaza Strip or whether it's just being injured.

Nick Schifrin:

The war has triggered an exodus of more than 15,000 migrant workers.

Man:

We are coming at this difficult time to help us, to work on the agriculture.

Nick Schifrin:

And now they're being replaced with a new wave of 5,000 Malawians. Sri Lanka plans to send 20,000. Israelis who refused this kind of work before are now showing up as volunteers.

Man:

We came to help out.

Nick Schifrin:

Even American cowboys are temporarily pitching in.

Back in Northeast Thailand, Kriengsak Phansuree was one of thousands of Thai migrants evacuated by his government. He says there's nowhere else he'd rather be.

Kriengsak Phansuree (through interpreter):

This situation has changed my idea of wanting to work in Israel. Right now, I don't have any income, but I feel more safe here.

Nick Schifrin:

But for Natthawaree Mulkan, it would be worth the risk.

Natthawaree Mulkan (through interpreter):

If there's a chance of going back, we want to return. There were many good things that left a lasting impression in our hearts.

Nick Schifrin:

For the moment, their focus is on each other. The two former hostages plan to get married and spend their time recovering with the family they almost left behind.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.