Thailand’s October 7th – Invisible Hostages & the Evil of Hamas

35 nationalities fell victim to the torture, rape, mutilation, immolation, slaughter and kidnap perpetrated by Hamas PIJ and Gazans civilians on October 7th.

Next to Israel itself, Thailand was the country with the most victims. Thai Ambassador to Israel Panba Chandrodaya told Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Thursday (30th Jan) was “one of the happiest days in my life” with the release of five Thai hostages from Gaza. Chandraramiya thanked “the Israeli side for all the preparation for the hostages to be released today,” noting that there was still another living Thai citizen believed to be held in Gaza — Pinta Nattapong. Hamas is still holding the bodies of two others, Sudthisak Rinthalak and Sonthaya Oakkharasri.

President Herzog of Israel & Thai Ambassador to Israel, Panba Chandrodaya

For 484 days, Thai citizens were held captive in Gaza by Hamas, unfortunate victims in a war that was never theirs. The release of Pongsak Thenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Seathao, Surasak Lamnau, who were working in Israeli communities near the border when Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, is part of the ongoing ceasefire deal.

Their release comes as an immense relief to their anxious families. But this horrendous episode raises disturbing questions. If Hamas and its supporters insist that its October 7th attack was a “military” operation targeting Israeli military targets, why did it take Thai workers hostage? Why did it murder 46 of them in cold blood, on that fateful day? And what possible interest could the terrorists have in holding innocent foreign workers captive for over a year?

These are questions that demand answers and should trouble anyone who still believes Hamas is anything other than a terror organization. Thai hostages had no role in Israel’s war with Hamas. They were not soldiers. They were not settlers. They were simply, farm labourers from poor rural regions in Thailand, working under difficult conditions, to send money home to their families. 

Their abduction and prolonged imprisonment in inhuman conditions, reveal an undeniable truth that October 7th was not a “military” operation, quite the opposite. It was far more than just an “attack” on Israelis. It was an indiscriminate bloody rampage, a brutal massacre that targeted anyone in its path, irrespective of nationality, faith, or politics.

The Human Cost of Indiscriminate Terror

Thailand has long been one of the largest sources of migrant labour, in Israel’s agricultural sector, with circa 30,000 working on farms across the country. On October 7th, Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities slaughtering and kidnapping everyone and anyone they could find, regardless, who their victims were. Some 46 Thai citizens were murdered that day, their deaths barely making global headlines. Others, including Nepalese, Filipino, and other foreign workers, were dragged across the border into Gaza, disappearing into Hamas’s tunnel network, to be held in their underground dungeons as bargaining chips.

For over a year, their distraught families have lived in a state of limbo, with little to no information about their fate. Already struggling with economic hardship, the money these workers sent home was a lifeline providing hope for a better future. These families lost not only thrown into unimaginable anguish at the loss of their beloved, but they also lost their main breadwinner.

Their young men had travelled halfway across the world to earn considerably more money than they could at home, while at the same time gaining valuable knowledge and experience in agriculture that they could eventually take home to apply to their own family farms. They had no political connections, no lobbyists to campaign for them, no embassies with leverage over Hamas. They were nameless and faceless in a conflict that pretty much ignored them.

Only now, with their release, do we get a glimpse into the suffering they endured. Wiwwaeo Sriaoun, whose son Watchara was among those released, said between sobs, “It is confirmed everyone, my son did not die. Thank you, God.” “I will hug him when I see him. I want to see if his health is okay, I am worried about his health,” she added. “Thank you, thank you God he did not die. We trust in God.”

Hostages Like Any Other, But Not

The five were among 31 Thais taken by the terror group, of whom 23 had already been released in November 2023. Let’s not forget that these unfortunates, had seen their friends and fellow countrymen brutally slaughtered before their very eyes.

Reports indicate that, like Israeli hostages, they were held in harsh conditions, with limited food, medical care, and contact with the outside world. Some of them were subjected to physical and psychological abuse. And for what, you may ask! What possible strategic or ideological justification can Hamas offer for taking and torturing wholly innocent Thai workers?

Hamas’s Dirty Little Secret

The contrast however, between their release and that of the Israeli hostages released in the latest deal was stark indeed. Fortunately for them, The Thais were spared the contemptible theatrics to which the Israeli were subjected. Hamas felt no need to parade these Thai workers for all to see. Quite the opposite! There were no Thais forced to stand on a stage, being directed to smile and wave for the cameras. There was no signing ceremony between Hamas and a shamefully complicit Red Cross.

No, no... they and the other international innocents caught up in the massacre, are Hamas’s dirty little secret that had to be hidden from the cameras as much as possible, lest they betray their carefully constructed narrative of resistance. Nothing to be proud of, no PR milage to be made. So, they were snuck through the crowds and unceremoniously handed over to the Red Cross, hope fully to be ignored and forgotten about.

False Narratives & Hypocrisy

Hamas has repeatedly claimed that October 7th was a legitimate “military operation” against Israel. But this terrorist organisation’s actions tell a different story. Military operations do not involve the mass murder of festivalgoers, rape, mutilation, immolation, the slaughter of entire families, or the kidnapping of infants and toddlers, whatever their nationality. And it certainly does not involve butchering and kidnapping Thai farmworkers with zero connection to the conflict.

For 484 days, Hamas kept these hostages as bargaining chips, hoping to extract political leverage or concessions. It treated them not as human beings, but as bargaining chips in a grotesque transaction. If Israel had not agreed to a ceasefire deal, these workers might have remained in captivity indefinitely, their lives wholly expendable to Hamas’s genocidal agenda.

Hamas’s apologists, those enablers and useful idiots, who continue to present the terror group as a “resistance movement” should be recognised as wholly complicit in the horrors perpetrated by Hamas and held to account. Forget the Israeli hostages for a moment (figuratively, of course). What “resistance” goal could be furthered by holding Thai civilian hostage? What “liberation struggle” justifies the murder of foreign farmworkers, far from home, just trying to support and build a better life their families? These are not rhetorical questions. They demand answers from those in the West, who sickeningly continue to romanticize and legitimise a genocidal death cult as” freedom fighters”. Sanctimonious moral inversion at it’s worst.

Terror Pure & Simple

The 31 Thai hostages were not alone. In addition to Israelis. many other foreign nationals were taken at gun point. In fact, more than half of those held by Hamas after the first release back in November 2023, have foreign passports including, 15 Argentinians, 12 Germans, 12 Americans, 6 French 6 Russians, 5 Nepalese, 1 Chinese,1 Sri Lankan, 2 from Tanzania and 2 from the Philippines, some of whom are presumed dead.

Their suffering mirrors that of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza—men, women, children, and elderly civilians who have spent over a year in Hamas’s tunnels, enduring unspeakable conditions.

Their stories also expose a broader pattern: Hamas’s complete disregard for human life. This is an organization that does not hesitate to kill, torture, or use civilians as leverage. It did not hesitate to massacre Israeli families. It did not hesitate to murder its own people when they protested against its rule. It certainly had no hesitation in kidnapping Thai workers, knowing full well they were uninvolved in the conflict.

So, What to Do?

Now that some of the Thai hostages have been released, the international community must not let their suffering be forgotten. Their case should serve as another indictment of Hamas, not just as a threat to Israel, but as a threat to all who value human life. Nations that still engage with Hamas, that legitimise the terrorists, who call for recognition and negotiations, should be reminded of what this group does to civilians, not matter where they happen to be from and regardless of their connection to the conflict.

Most of all, this moment should force a reckoning. The world cannot afford selective outrage. If the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza is worthy of global attention, so too is the suffering of the Thai hostages, the Israeli captives, and the many other innocent nationalities brutalized by Hamas. If there is one lesson from this tragedy, it is that Hamas’s war is not just against Israel, it is against humanity itself.

The world must free Gaza, and the wider world from Hamas!