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
A British-flagged yacht carrying 12 pro-Palestinian activists, including Swedish climate celebrity Greta Thunberg and French far-left MEP Rima Hassan, is inching its way toward Gaza in what critics are calling a calculated media stunt aimed more at headlines than humanitarian aid.
A humanitarian organization backed by the United States and Israel did not distribute any food aid on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate in the enclave, which the Palestinian militants denied.
Every time an Israeli airstrike hits Gaza, international media outlets rush to cite “Gaza’s Civil Defense” for casualty figures—often highlighting the deaths of women and children. But rarely, if ever, do these reports mention militants, armed operatives, or Hamas fighters killed. Why?
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.