Of the 115 hostages remaining in Gaza from the October 7 massacre, whether dead or alive, there are 11 foreign workers and students who are not Israeli citizens. Of those 11 foreign nationals, eight of them are Thai, two agriculture students from Tanzania, and one hostage is from Nepal. These are some of their stories.
Pongsak. Sathian. Benawat. Pinta. Sirion. Bipin. Surasak. Sonthaya. Sontisak. Joshua. Ten of the 115 abductees who are still being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are foreign nationals who were abducted from their work in the kibbutzim surrounding Gaza. Eight of them are Thai citizens, most of whom came to Israel to support their families. Two more arrived in Israel from Nepal and Tanzania.
Footage of Hamas kidnapping Nepali national
By August, 23 Thai hostages had been released following talks between Thailand and Arab countries Iran that pressured Hamas to release Thai nationals, not as part of a hostage deal. Approximately 49 Thais were murdered in the October 7 massacre while they were living in the Gaza border communities. Before the war, nearly 30 thousand Thai nationals worked in Israeli agriculture. Now, many of them hope to return and plow the fields.
In Kibbutz Nir Oz, 11 Thai workers were murdered, five were kidnapped, and two returned were released. In December, the chairman of Kibbutz Nir Oz, Osnat Perry, sent a letter to the citizens of Thailand, to the Prime Minister of Thailand Srettha Thavisin, and to the Thai ambassador in Israel Ms. Pannabha Chandraramya, thanking the Thai workers on behalf of the kibbutz. We regret that innocent Thai citizens were harmed in a conflict and war that they have nothing to do with," she wrote.
The letter was sent in Thai, and it mentioned the names of all the Thai citizens who were kidnapped and murdered from the Nir Oz community, including Sathian Suwannakham, 34, who was seriously injured during his kidnapping. Sathin's mother found out about the kidnapping from a video she watched on Facebook.
The other Thai hostages are Solasak Lamanao, 30, Pongsak Thaenna, 35, Banawat Saithiao, 27, who was shot and wounded in the leg on October 7, Pinta Natthaphong, 35, and Sriuan Watchara, 32, Sontia Ok'Krasari, 30, and Sontisek Rintalk, 43, were murdered on the day of the massacre in Kibbutz Be'eri's plantations - and their bodies are still being held in the Gaza Strip. According to the website Untold, Not Forgotten, Phongsak, originally from Buri Ram district in Thailand, worked in Israel for a little over six years. He came to Israel to work in agriculture and support his 15-year-old daughter.
In addition to the Thai hostages, Bipin Joshi, 23, from Nepal and Joshua Luito Mollel, 22, from Tanzania, who came to Israel as agriculture students as part of their studies, are also in Hamas captivity. Joshi and his friends from Nepal arrived in Israel only three weeks before October 7. They lived in Kibbutz Alumim, and were supposed to specialize in growing citrus fruits. On the morning of the massacre, they also woke up to the sound of rockets.
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Former Foreign Minister Eli Cohen welcomes Joshua's father and uncle in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem
(Photo: Foreign Ministry)
In the shelter where 17 Nepali workers were huddled shoulder to shoulder, they took a selfie, in which Bipin can be seen leaning forward and smiling at the camera. Some of them were playing on their phones, and one even took a picture of Bipin which he uploaded to Facebook with the caption "Bunker Time". As the gunshots got closer, panicked screams were heard in the area. As soon as the Hamas terrorists entered the shelter, one of the students who was taking videos was shot dead, as well as another who shouted "We are Nepalis."
Later two grenades were thrown in, while the Nepali comrades huddled together near the wall. Biffin lunged forward, picked up one grenade and tossed it away from them. But he did not manage to reach the second grenade in time, which exploded and left several of them wounded and unconscious.
Later, after the terrorists advanced further, the farmers heard Israeli policemen calling for those who could reach a nearby kitchen. While some Nepali citizens and a handful of Thai citizens fled to hiding places, Bipin gathered some of his friends to reach the wounded who were hit by the grenade to help them. Bipin quickly sent several messages to his cousin, writing to him in English: "If something happens to me, you will have to take care of the family. Be strong and always look to the future."
A young terrorist wielding a rifle burst into the scene and ordered Bipin and three Thai citizens to approach the door at gunpoint. Another terrorist picked up his phone to record the abduction. This is the last footage we have of Bipin. Bipin's family and the government of Nepal are working continuously to raise awareness of his abduction and bring about his early release.
Ten students from Nepal were murdered on October 7 in the Gaza border communities. Prof. Haim Shaked, President of Hemdat College of Education, where they studied, went to visit the victims' families in Nepal. Another student who came to Israel to study agronomy was Joshua Luito Mollel from Tanzania. A few weeks after October, it was discovered that he was murdered and his body was taken to the Gaza Strip.
Since then, his father has been leading an international campaign to return his son, and he even came to Israel. He met with the former Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, who gave the family, with the Jewish National Fund, a certificate for planting 18 trees in his name and memory. On October 7, another Tanzanian citizen was murdered, Mollel's roommate, 22-year-old Clemence Felix Matanga who also came to Israel to study agriculture.