Why it matters:
Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that five Thai captives have been released on Thursday based on an agreement between the Thailand government and the Israeli regime.
Thirty-one Thai workers were taken hostage in the October 2023 attacks, the Thai government has said previously.
The big picture:
Thai nationals were the single largest group of foreign nationals held by Hamas in Gaza.
Behind the scenes, Thailand officials have been quietly working away at trying to get their citizens freed, attending meetings in Qatar and Iran.
At the center of the Thai negotiating team was Lerpong Sayed, a Thai Muslim who was involved in negotiation in the past weeks between his home country and Iran, where he spoke to Hamas five times.
What he is saying:
"We went there to negotiate as normal people, not politicians. Hamas saw this. They saw us as Thai Muslims," he told Sky News.
"They promised that if there was a ceasefire Thai people would be released in the first group.
"Now we can see Thais are among the first citizens freed compared to 20 other nationalities."
Dr Sayed is part of a small team of three people working on behalf of the Thai House Speaker, Wan Muhammad Noor Matha, and the Shia Muslim leader in Thailand, Syed Sulaiman Husaini.
What she is saying:
On Thursday, Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra expressed deep gratitude to Qatar, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, the United States, and other friendly nations, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross and all parties involved, for their crucial roles in securing the release of the Thai hostages in the Gaza Strip.
Thailand continues to call for the swift release of all remaining hostages, including a Thai national, so they may safely return home to their loved ones.
Key points:
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Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Saethao, and Surasak Lamnao had all been working in southern occupied Lnads at the time of October 7th, 2023.
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30,000 Thai nationals worked on occupied lands as farm laborers, making them one of the largest migrant groups in Israel.
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The release is part of a separate agreement between Hamas and the Thai government - it's not part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal agreed on 19 January.
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Iran has said it facilitated the release.
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