The release of 10 Thai hostages on Friday, November 24, as part of the four-day truce agreed between Israel and Hamas, was the crowning moment of a month of frenetic diplomatic activity on the part of a country that claims to be neutral and friendly to all, but is little invested in the Middle East. Srettha Thavisin's government only took office at the end of August, and the hostage crisis was its baptism by fire. Thirty-nine Thais were killed by Hamas bullets on October 7. Twenty others remain captive in Gaza after the first day of handovers. All were among the 30,000 Thai farm workers employed on Israeli kibbutzes under an agreement between the two countries.
The vast majority of them come from Isan, the large, impoverished region in the northeast of the country that happens to be the stronghold of Pheu Thai ("Party for the Thais"), the party of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, which took the lead in the coalition formed after the May 14 elections.
Directly after the October 7 Hamas attacks, Thavisin's government immediately appointed the House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha to run the mission. "Wan Noor," a Muslim politician who has long represented the southern provinces, populated mainly by Thai-Malays, Sunnis like himself, is also a close ally of Pheu Thai. Wan Noor set about activating his networks, notably in Malaysia, where Hamas has a presence.
Saiyid Sulaiman Husaini, the influential leader of a Thai Shiite association, then organized a trip to Tehran on October 27 by Wan Noor's advisors. Iran is the main political and financial supporter of Hamas in the Middle East. On this occasion, the president's emissaries received assurances from Hamas representatives that the Thai hostages would be released as soon as Israel agreed to a truce.
Following this initial breakthrough, Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, visited Qatar on October 31. In addition to his Qatari counterpart, he met Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who assured him of "Iran's full support".
The following day, the head of Thai diplomacy made a stopover in Cairo to enlist Egypt's cooperation. Consultations continued right up to the last minute. On Thursday, Wan Nor welcomed the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani to Bangkok to discuss the hostage issue. On Friday evening, as soon as the former Thai hostages arrived in Israel, where they will remain for 48 hours under medical supervision, Bangkok expressed its thanks to "all those from whom [Thailand] asked for help, namely the governments of Qatar, Israel, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia and the International Committee of the Red Cross."