Seventeen Thai hostages released in recent days by Hamas, after endless weeks of captivity in the Gaza Strip, are expected in Bangkok today.

The aircraft they boarded, accompanied by the head of Thai diplomacy, is expected to land at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 15:00 (local time; 10:00 Greek time), where they will be welcomed by their families.

According to Thailand’s labor ministry, some 30,000 nationals of the kingdom were working in Israel, mostly in the agricultural sector, when Hamas launched its incursion into southern areas of Israeli territory on October 7.

At least 32 of them were captured by Hamas during the country’s deadliest attack on Israel in 1948 and taken to the Gaza Strip.

In retaliation, Israel launched a massive air, land and sea bombardment campaign in the Palestinian enclave and in late October began a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip.

The first group of ten Thai hostages were freed on Friday, the day Hamas and Israel agreed to declare a ceasefire after weeks of negotiations brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

The remaining seven were released in the following days.

All were admitted to Israeli hospitals for recovery before being repatriated, Thai officials said.

Another six Thai hostages were released last Tuesday and Wednesday, but a Foreign Ministry spokesman said they will remain in a hospital in Israel for the time being and will be repatriated later.

The war has killed at least 15,000 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, including more than 6,000 children, according to Hamas’ health ministry.

Thirty-nine Thai nationals have been killed and 19 others injured in the war, and the kingdom recently announced that it was hastily evacuating more than 8,500 of its nationals who were in Israel.