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Gideon Sa'ar brokered deal to free Thai hostages

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar reportedly helped broker the deal to get Hamas to free the five living Thai hostages to be released tomorrow.

Thai agricultural worker.
Photo: Michael Giladi/Flash90

Five Thai living hostages are set to be released tomorrow (Thursday) together with three Israeli hostages, without an exchange of Palestinian prisoners, thanks to the mediation of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar.

According to Channel 12 reporter Amit Segal, there are 10 foreigners among the 90 remaining hostages: one murdered Tanzanian, one Nepalese, and eight Thai hostages, six of whom are alive and two of whom are dead.

The Thai hostages will be freed without anything in return, thanks to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar's proposal to Thai's Foreign Ministry to immediately work to free their citizens, as occurred in the previous hostage deal.

Following this conversation, Thailand worked with Egyptian and Qatari mediators to secure the release of their citizens, which will now take place tomorrow.

In November 2023, during the first hostage deal, Hamas released 23 Thai citizens without anything in return from Israel, thanks to Iranian mediation between Thailand and the terrorist group.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said at the time that "a preliminary physical examination shows that all the hostages who were released are in good condition. All are healthy, and no one required urgent medical treatment."

Following their release, the Thai workers often spoke of how Hamas and other terrorists holding them hostage mistreated Israeli hostages far worse than they treated them, including using physical abuse and attacks.

Three Israeli hostages, including soldier Agam Berger, civilian Arbel Yehud, and Gadi Moses, will be released tomorrow, as well, though the time and place of their release has not yet been publicized.

Israel insisted on Yehud's release as a condition of allowing displaced Gazans to move north back home to Gaza City and surrounding towns. Following intense negotiations with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, Hamas agreed to release her and two others ahead of the scheduled release of additional hostages on Saturday.

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