How a Thai worker was taken hostage in a foreign war

Bannawat Saethao is one of dozens of Thai workers who were kidnapped by Hamas. He recounts for the first time his experience of being abducted by terrorists, and the emotional moment he first met his daughter. After being held captive for 15 months, he and four of his compatriots were finally released and returned home in early February.

Bannawat points to a thin white line on the palm of his right hand. The scar is so faint as to be almost invisible, but it serves as a constant reminder of the horrific ordeal he recently endured. Bannawat, 28, was one of 31 Thai nationals abducted by Hamas on October 7th. He had been working on a potato farm in Israel for several months, hoping to earn enough money to pay off debts and send remittances home to his young family.

It was these hands that he raised in a moment of extreme fear after being chased and shot at by Hamas militants. He only held his youngest child for the first time a few weeks ago. Areeya was only a month old when Bannawat was captured, and he had only seen her through a screen before. "I had never held my daughter's hand," he said. The prospect of finally meeting her and reuniting with his loved ones filled him with emotion.

"I'm usually calm and rarely express my emotions," he said. "But that day when I called my dad, mom, wife, and kids, I cried uncontrollably." Amidst the reddish-brown soil and deep green leaves of the family's lychee farm, Bannawat opened up for the first time about his traumatic experience. "At first I was scared, but then I became numb. It was beyond fear."

Bannawat was abducted after working in Israel for about nine months. He vividly remembers that morning. He woke up early, video-called his wife and parents, and made gentle sounds to his newborn baby. He heard explosions in the sky – which was not uncommon. When the second explosion occurred, his fellow workers went into a bunker for shelter. Bannawat was about to join them when a friend asked if the back gate was closed. "I said, 'I'll go check,' and I volunteered." It was a fateful decision. "My friend shouted, 'Don't go, don't go,' – but I was stubborn and went to the back gate anyway."

Bannawat said he poked his head out and saw armed men. He was shocked to realize they were not Israeli soldiers when they started running towards him. "I started running," he said. "They chased me, shooting constantly, and I kept running. It was a sandy road, and I could see the bullets kicking up dust." "They shot here," he said, pointing to his right hand, "and here," he added, pointing to his shoulder. He fell face down on the ground. At that moment, he thought he was not going to survive. "I was so scared, I raised my hands and shouted: 'Thailand, Thailand! I don't know anything, sorry.'"

An attacker ran up to Bannawat, stepped on his head, and pressed his face into the sand. The militant fired shots into the ground around Bannawat before grabbing his shirt and dragging him away. He said his captors took him to a hospital, where his wounds were X-rayed, cleaned, and bandaged. For Bannawat's wife, Wichayada Saeyang, it was a period of agonizing silence. "Around noon, I couldn't reach him, he had gone quiet. I called all night, but the line was disconnected," she said.

The next morning, her sister-in-law ran to her, saying a relative had witnessed Bannawat being shot and taken away. "I didn't believe it, I didn't think it was Bannawat," she said. In the months that followed, with the support of Bannawat's parents, she struggled to raise their three children. She felt stressed and worried. Her newborn was not getting enough breast milk. "I had to keep fighting, being both their mother and father."

Bannawat said he was initially held in a house with two other men, but they were moved, and he was held alone for about a month. Sometimes he was held in makeshift tents, sometimes in dark houses on the streets of Gaza. But he was always hidden and moved secretly more than a dozen times. "They always moved us at night when people were sleeping," he said. "If they took us out, they would dress us up as women; our heads were covered, with only our eyes uncovered."

On one occasion, he was held with two other recently released Thai hostages – Watchara Sriaoun, 33, and Sathian Suwannakham, 35. They often complained about how they had been drawn into a conflict that was so far removed from their lives in Thailand. "It has nothing to do with us, but they grabbed us," he said. "It's like we didn't commit any crime, but we were put in jail."

He said the worst moments were when he and the other hostages were abandoned by their captors in the midst of heavy fighting for up to six days. "We ate raw flour, no gas, no electricity, nothing." Sometimes they were held in a small room covered only with wooden poles and tarpaulin. "We could get out from the inside, but they told us not to go out. If we went out, they would kill us," he said. "I used to plan to escape, but then I thought, 'Then what, where can I go next?'"

After 480 days, Bannawat was released along with his compatriots Watchara and Sathian, as well as Surasak Rumnao, 32, and Pongsak Thaenna, 36. But one Thai hostage remains in Gaza. During a tearful reunion at Bangkok airport, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said authorities were determined to bring him home. "Another important thing is that we still have one Thai national being held captive. We have not breathed a sigh of relief yet," he said.

When Bannawat's captors told him he was going to be released, he didn't believe it at first. He was supposed to be part of an earlier hostage release operation, but a sudden outbreak of fighting disrupted the plan. It wasn't until he was able to call his family from a hospital in Israel that he truly realized it. He was in tears. "I finally saw the real faces of my father, mother, and wife, and not just through a phone camera," he said after an emotional reunion in Bangkok. "It's not a dream, it's a reality." He echoed a sentiment expressed by his fellow Thai hostages: "It's like I died once and was reborn."

Although he didn't see his little daughter Areeya take her first steps, Bannawat is determined not to miss any more milestones. "I can't imagine what she was like as a baby compared to what she is now, over a year old," he said. "When I came back, I saw, oh, she looks like me. Fair skin like me, she eats a lot and is a little chubby." At first, Areeya and his older daughters, Darin, 7, and Alisa, 4, were a little confused by their father's presence. But within a day, they were eager to play with him, insisting on sleeping in bed with their parents to be close to their father.

Bannawat and the other hostages will receive compensation from the Israeli insurance agency, a one-time payment of about 600,000 baht (nearly $28,000), and monthly assistance of about $1,400 until he is 67, after which he will receive further compensation. The money means his family can build a house – the hum of construction equipment is already audible around them – and that he doesn't need to migrate for work as he has in the past. Despite the conflict, working on farms in Israel remains an attractive option for Thais.

Sudarat Musikawong of Mahidol University said that Thais began migrating to Israel in the 1980s, entering the construction and agricultural sectors. She said that stagnant wages in Thailand are a major factor, especially in the country's poorer northern and northeastern regions. "Therefore, you see many people struggling to make a living, raise families, and support elderly parents, just to earn a decent wage," she said.

This migration for work was initially facilitated by brokerage firms, then by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), but today it is mainly done through bilateral government agreements. At the time of the October 7th attacks, there were 30,000 Thai laborers working in Israel. Although thousands have since been repatriated, Thailand resumed sending workers to Israel last June. Professor Musikawong said the conflict highlighted the plight of Thai migrant workers, arguing that it would be ideal if laborers could find safe employment in their own country with better conditions and pay. "Israel is definitely the workers' preferred destination," she said, adding that it is only a stopgap measure for problems such as underemployment, stagnant wages, and chronic poverty, which have persisted for 30 years.

There are currently about 38,000 Thai migrants working in Israel. But Bannawat is determined never to go back. "I won't go back. I'd rather be with my wife, children, and parents. I want to take care of them," Bannawat said. "I won't let him go," his wife Wichayada added. "Let's stay here together and work together." She said she never gave up hope that he would return. "Some people said I was still young and I should find someone else, for a better future. I didn't want to do that. I don't think I would meet someone as good as Bannawat."

As Bannawat adjusts to freedom and family life, his experience continues to haunt him. The numbness from the bullet wound in his hand still wakes him up at night. "He tells me he has a nightmare, dreaming that he is still being held there," Wichayada said.