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During their stay, there were visits from the Thai Embassy, the Thai Foreign Minister, and a Zoom call with the Thai Prime Minister.
By DR. ITAY GAL FEBRUARY 8, 2025 21:39
Thai hostages and the Shamir Medical Center care team who looked after them, February 8, 2025.
(photo credit: SHAMIR MEDICAL CENTER)
Saturday morning, the care team at Shamir Medical Center said goodbye to the five Thai hostages released last week in a ceremony in which the returnees were presented with souvenirs from their stay.
The returnees wrote their feelings on a board and said goodbye in a ceremony where boards in Thai were raised saying "Have a good trip," "A successful journey," and "Goodbye" with the flags of Thailand and Israel.
The five left with their recently arrived families, along with a Thai psychologist who also arrived in Israel, on their way to Ben Gurion Airport, from where they took off for Bangkok.
During their stay, there were visits from the Thai Embassy, the Thai Foreign Minister, and a zoom call with the Thai Prime Minister.
Another moving visit was from the student council of Alon High School in Ramat Hasharon, who arrived with trolley suitcases containing gifts for the returnees to convey to them a message that they are embraced and loved like all the Israeli hostages.
With the help of the Parent Leadership Organization, a Paybox group was opened for donations, and within hours, thousands of shekels were collected. Thus, each received a trolley, a backpack, a pouch, a dry-fit shirt, an insulated bottle, branded hats, socks, a hamsa, a key chain, and dates.
Donations and support
Vered Shinar, the director of social services at Shamir, emphasized that: "The hostages quickly returned to social media and made contact with friends at home. A psychiatrist and a doctor arrived from Thailand at Shamir Medical Center and joined the treatment team along with the Thai embassy staff. The returnees said that when they were in captivity, they thought that no one knew they were hostage in Gaza. They were not sure that they would get out of there alive and were afraid that they would be forgotten there."
Jolie Tal, a nurse in charge at the returnee compound, said: "Seeing the embrace of the son with the mother, with the family members who flew from the other end of the world, is amazing. I also cried with them, as did the entire team here who surrounded the abductees with love."
"Unlike the Israeli returnees, the Thai returnees do not have families waiting for them in Israel, and we at Shamir welcomed them with open arms and a warm embrace, both as a family and as a professional medical team. In the special complex we prepared in advance in Shamir, they were assigned luxurious private rooms with all the necessary equipment in terms of clothing, footwear, toiletries, and more."
"Additionally, they were provided with a luxurious and private patio where they could breathe clean air and recover in the open air," emphasized Dr. Osnat Levtzion Korach, director of the medical center, adding, "The extensive experience gained in Shamir in the previous round of releases was fully applied in this one, and I am grateful for the privilege of welcoming the Thai returnees to us as a window of light, brotherhood, and Israeli hope to the whole world."
English (US) ·