Hamas direct talks with Thai Muslim group ‘helped secure release’ of Thai hostages

A Muslim group in Thailand spoke directly with Hamas in its efforts to ensure that Thai hostages were among the first batch to be exchanged in Gaza during a temporary truce with Israel, Reuters has reported. “We were the sole party that spoke to Hamas since the beginning of the war to ask for the release of Thais,” said Lerpong Syed of the Thai-Iran Alumni Association on Monday.

Three more Thais held by Hamas were released on Sunday, taking to seventeen the number of Thai nationals freed since the four-day truce began on Friday.

The association president was part of a group of Thai Muslims convened by the country’s parliamentary speaker Wan Muhammad Noor Matha which travelled to Tehran in October and spoke directly with a Hamas representative. While not official negotiations, the parallel talks were not condemned by Thailand’s government.

“If Thailand only relied on the foreign ministry or asked other countries for help, the chances of getting [Thai hostages] released with the first group would be very low,” Lerpong said. He added that other countries with hostages such as the United States, Germany and France have more influence.

Thailand’s foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment on Lerpong’s claim, but Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara thanked all involved separately for the releases so far in a post on social media platform X. “Congratulations to all and our deep gratitude for all the efforts in securing their release,” said the foreign minister. “We continue to call for the release of the remaining Thais still held hostage.”

READ: Palestinian children just released from prison claim beatings, abuse, torture and starvation

Lerpong said that the Thai-Iran group conveyed to Hamas during a three-hour meeting last month that Thais were not party to the conflict and should be freed. The resistance movement gave an assurance that Thais would be released first and unconditionally once there was a ceasefire.

The temporary truce is the first halt in fighting in the seven weeks since Hamas crossed the nominal border into the occupation state and took around 240 hostages after first attacking southern Israeli army barracks and settlements on 7 October. Since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israel Defence Forces had in fact killed many of the 1,200 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by Hamas.

Before the war, around 30,000 Thai labourers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making up one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country.

“Our team hit the right spot from the beginning by going to Iran and talking directly to Hamas,” said another member of the Thai group, veteran politician Areepen Uttarasin. However, a source briefed on the talks said the hostage agreement was mediated by Qatar and Egypt in a negotiation track that was opened when Thailand’s foreign minister visited Qatar on 31 October.

Iran has also said that it facilitated the release. According to Hamas, the release was due to the efforts of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Thailand’s 70 million people are predominantly Buddhist and have largely co-existed peacefully with the Muslim minority, although a long-running separatist insurgency in the south periodically flares into violence.