Families of deceased Thai workers urge the release of Gaza hostages

The two Thai males, Sudthisak Rinthalak and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, were among eight Thai nationals believed to have been in Hamas’ custody in Gaza after 23 others were released as part of a weeklong truce deal in late November. 

The Thai workers were taken hostage during the surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7 last year. 

According to a statement by the Embassy of Israel in Thailand, the bodies of Sudthisak and Sonthaya from Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel were still being held by Hamas.

The Nation reporters on Friday visited Sudthisak’s house in Nong Khai province and interviewed his parents, Thong Ma and Orn, who were preparing their house as a venue for their deceased son’s funeral rites.

Thong Ma said Sudthisak had been working on a farm in Israel since August 2017, adding that the whole family was still shaken up by the news of his death.

He hoped that his body or ashes could be sent back to Thailand for the funeral rites, otherwise the family would have to settle for only a merit-making ceremony in front of his photo.

Meanwhile, at Sonthaya’s house in Nong Bua Lamphu province, his mother Amorn said she had believed for the past seven months that her son was still alive.

Sonthaya had been working in Israel for five years, and had just got a five-month contract extension before the war erupted, she said.

The two families urged the government as well as international efforts to facilitate the release of the rest of the hostages, so that other families would not have to undergo their experience.

The Nong Khai labour office said that the families of the deceased workers would receive 50,000 baht in compensation that the government provided specifically for victims of Israel-Hamas war, as well as about 70,000 baht compensation as part of benefits for workers in foreign countries.

The two fatalities raised to 35 the number of Thais workers killed in Israel since the conflict erupted in October last year. Thailand and France are the foreign countries with the highest number of fatalities in the ongoing conflict.