Only two weeks after arriving in Israel to work as a farm hand, Thai national Yuchian Tamtung was abducted from his apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas terrorists and held captive for 51 days.

Speaking to Channel 12 News from his home in Thailand, Tamtung said: “The terrorists dragged me by force, beat me with weapons and kicked me, and took me to a tunnel together with a group of Israeli hostages.”

“For the first two weeks, I suffered from a migraine and seemed like a madman, I talked to myself and walked back and forth until the Hamas terrorists told me to stop,” Tamtung said, adding that one of the hostages held with him was an Israeli-Bedouin who could communicate with the terrorists.

Tamtung said although the Thai hostages weren’t abused like the Israeli hostages were, the situation in captivity was still unbearable. [Each group of hostages was treated differently, with some Thai hostages reporting that they were beaten.]

“Usually we comforted each other – we held hands, held each other’s shoulders,” he said. “Since I don’t speak Hebrew, there were days that the Israeli hostages made hand gestures to me, telling me to keep strong.”

“On the 10th day, the terrorists came with cameras and filmed the hostages. They told one of the hostages what to say in the video and he spoke a little. He almost cried. I’m not sure what they were talking about.”

After Tamtung spent 41 days in the tunnel, the terrorists transferred them to another tunnel, where they were joined by a small group of female Israeli hostages who were wearing hijabs so only their faces could be seen.

“They looked very exhausted,” Tamtung said. “They needed to stop after walking for a short time and then stop again.”

Tamtung remembered the first names of all the Israeli hostages who were held with him in Gaza. The information he passed on was transferred to the families of the hostages.

Although 23 Thai nationals were released from Gaza, eight remain in captivity.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)