Thai hostage’s mother danced with joy after daughter released from Gaza

“I was elated … I came out and danced,” Bunyarin Srijan, 56, said pointing to her patio.

Natthawaree, a mother of two, was one of 10 Thai hostages freed by Hamas during the first truce of a seven-week-old war that started with the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

She was the only Thai woman abducted.

Her mother lost touch with her after the attack and then stopped following reports, dreading bad news.

“During that hopeless period I didn’t watch the news for half a month,” Bunyarin recounts alone in her living room.

“I was afraid of seeing my daughter lying dead.”

Some 30,000 Thai labourers, mainly from the country’s impoverished northeast, work in the Israeli agriculture sector, one of its largest groups of migrant workers.

At least 10 Thai hostages and 13 Israelis freed as part of Gaza truce deal

Natthawaree is seen in a photograph from the Thai foreign ministry in a clinic, smiling with her hands clasped in a traditional “wai”.

Bunyarin said her daughter had planned to marry her boyfriend, Boonthom Phankhong, who was also abducted by Hamas and released on Friday.

“After she’s back, I’m going to take her to the temple to observe religious rites,” she said, wiping away tears.