© Reuters. Anucha Angkaew, a Thai farm employee who was kidnapped by Hamas whereas working in Israel in October and spent 50 days in captivity in Gaza, speaks on the cellphone at his household residence in Don Pila village in Udon Thani province, Thailand December 6, 2023. REUTERS/D
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By Napat Wesshasartar and Devjyot Ghoshal
DON PILA, Thailand (Reuters) – When Thai farm labourer Anucha Angkaew scrambled out of the bunker the place he had been sheltering from rockets on Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip round 7.30 am on Oct. 7, he anticipated to see Israeli troopers.
As a substitute, Anucha and his 5 Thai colleagues had been accosted by 10 armed militants, whom he recognized as Hamas by the Palestine flags on their sleeves.
“We shouted ‘Thailand, Thailand’,” stated Anucha, a soft-spoken 28-year-old with a wispy goatee. “But they didn’t care.”
Two of the six Thais had been killed quickly after, together with a buddy who Anucha stated was shot lifeless in entrance of him in a random act of violence. The remaining had been pressured on to a truck for a roughly 30 minute experience into Gaza.
Anucha’s first particular person account provides a glimpse into what many hostages endured – and a few proceed to endure. He described sleeping on a sandy flooring and beatings by Hamas captors, who he stated singled out Israelis for particularly brutal therapy.
To maintain their hopes up, the 4 Thai males relied on chess video games on a makeshift board, recollections of household and longing for Thai meals.
Few of the freed hostages have spoken at size about their ordeal, although others who’ve since been launched additionally described beatings and dying threats.
Hamas officers didn’t instantly reply to a written request for touch upon Anucha’s account.
“I thought I would die,” he stated on Wednesday, at his household residence in rural northeastern Thailand, the place he returned this month after 50 days in captivity.
Virtually all that point was spent inside two small underground rooms, secured by armed guards and accessed by darkish slim tunnels.
Not less than 240 individuals – Israelis and overseas nationals – had been kidnapped to Gaza on Oct 7. by Hamas militants who burst via the border and killed some 1,200 individuals.
Greater than 100 hostages – largely girls, kids and non-Israelis – have been launched.
In retaliation for the Oct. 7 assault, Israel mounted a devastating bombing marketing campaign and floor offensive that has killed greater than 15,000 individuals, based on figures from Palestinian well being officers deemed dependable by the United Nations.
Some 130 individuals, together with eight Thais, stay captive.
Earlier than the warfare, round 30,000 Thai labourers labored within the agriculture sector, making them considered one of Israel’s largest migrant employee teams. Israel provides the farmhands greater wages.
Thailand, which has pleasant ties with Israel, recognised Palestine as a sovereign state in 2012.
Israel’s International Ministry has in contrast the lifeless Thai hostages to “heroes” and stated the launched captives would obtain the identical advantages as their Israeli counterparts.
TWO MEALS, TWO BOTTLES OF WATER
As soon as in Gaza, the uniformed militants handed the Thais to a small group of males who took them to an deserted home and tied their palms behind their backs.
The Thais had been joined by a terrified 18-year-old Israeli, a person Anucha stated he knew from Kibbutz Re’im, the place he labored on an avocado farm.
Beatings started shortly after, as their captors punched and kicked them. “We shouted ‘Thailand, Thailand’,” he stated, which eased the depth of the blows. The younger Israeli wasn’t spared.
An hour later, all 5 had been put into one other truck that drove for about half-hour to a small constructing that led right into a tunnel.
Close to the mouth of the tunnel, they had been crushed once more and photographed, Anucha stated, earlier than strolling via a darkish, roughly meter-wide passage to a small room.
On this windowless house, which measured round 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters and was lit by a bulb, the 5 had been joined by one other Israeli man.
The militants continued kicking and punching the captives for 2 days, Anucha stated. After that, they persevered with one other two days of beatings for the Israelis, who had been whipped utilizing electrical wires.
Anucha was not significantly injured however weeks after his launch from captivity, his wrist nonetheless bore marks from the restraints.
The captives slept on the naked sandy flooring. The six males had been served flat bread twice a day and shared two bottles of water between them that was replenished each day.
Their bathroom was a gap within the floor close to the room, the place they had been taken by considered one of eight guards armed with assault weapons that resembled AK-47s. Guards informed them to not speak amongst themselves.
“I felt hopeless,” Anucha stated.
Anucha initially counted down the times by the variety of meals. After 4 days, the six had been marched to a different room.
Throughout the stroll, Anucha stated the tunnel, which was lit by flash lights carried by their captors, was lined with metallic doorways.
‘THAILAND, GO HOME’
Their new room was extra spacious. That they had plastic sheets to sleep on. Three bulbs lit the house. An alcove served as their bathroom.
The beatings stopped. The meals improved to incorporate nuts, butter and, later, rice.
Nonetheless utilizing meals to measure time, Anucha left scratches on the ground to mark the variety of days in captivity.
That modified when a guard introduced in some papers for them to signal. He, like the opposite guards, solely spoke Arabic. The Israelis interpreted for Anucha, who stated he speaks rudimentary Hebrew.
However the guard left behind a white ballpoint pen. They used it to mark time, draw tattoos and sketch a chessboard on the plastic sheet. Chess items had been crafted out of a pink-and-green toothpaste field.
One other distraction was speak of meals. Anucha craved soi ju, a Thai delicacy of items of uncooked beef dipped in spicy sauce, that he dreamt and spoke of.
“Food was a source of hope,” he stated, smiling.
Weeks handed. Anucha had no inkling of the Israeli raids and bombings aboveground. He usually considered residence, his father, his seven 12 months outdated daughter and his accomplice of 14 years.
On Day 35, a person wearing black arrived for a short inspection. From his manner and the respectful behaviour of the guards, the captives surmised he was a senior Hamas chief.
Their routine resumed, till someday, a guard arrived following their first meal and introduced: “Thailand, go home.”
The 4 Thais had been led via tunnels for roughly two hours and arrived overground to a Hamas facility, the place a handful of feminine Israeli hostages had been additionally ready.
Some 11 hours later, they had been handed over to the Purple Cross, which drove them out of Gaza on Nov. 25.
“I didn’t think I would get released,” he stated, “It was like I was reborn.”
However the hardest half was nonetheless what he noticed on Oct. 7, Anucha stated. “I lost my friend in front of my eyes.”
