When Thai farm laborer Anucha Angkaew scrambled out of the bunker where he had been sheltering from rockets on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip around 7.30 am on Oct. 7, he expected to see Israeli soldiers.
Anucha Angkaew, a Thai farm worker who was abducted by Hamas while working in Israel in October and spent 50 days in captivity in Gaza, speaks on the phone at his family home in Don Pila village in Udon Thani province, Thailand December 6, 2023. Reuters/Devjyot Ghoshal
When Thai farm laborer Anucha Angkaew scrambled out of the bunker where he had been sheltering from rockets on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip around 7.30 am on Oct. 7, he expected to see Israeli soldiers.
Instead, Anucha and his five Thai colleagues were accosted by 10 armed militants, whom he identified as Hamas by the Palestine flags on their sleeves.
"We shouted 'Thailand, Thailand'," said Anucha, a soft-spoken 28-year-old with a wispy goatee. "But they didn't care."
Two of the six Thais were killed soon after, including a friend who Anucha said was shot dead in front of him in a random act of violence. The rest were forced on to a truck for a roughly 30 minute ride into Gaza.
Few of the freed hostages have spoken at length about their ordeal, though others who have since been released also described beatings and death threats.
Hamas officials did not immediately respond to a written request for comment on Anucha's account.
Reuters
Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, the Israeli military and security sources in Lebanon said, escalating a year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
There are no changes to U.S. military posture in the Middle East, the Pentagon told reporters on Thursday when asked about recent deadly attacks in Lebanon attributed to Israel that blew up Hezbollah radios and pagers.
More than 130 world leaders will meet at the United Nations next week, faced with wars in the Middle East and Europe threatening to spread, frustration at the slow pace of efforts to end those conflicts, and worsening climate and humanitarian crises.
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