(30 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beer Yaakov, Israel – 30 January 2025
1. Wide of Dr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach, General Director of Shamir Medical Center (left), and Pannabha Chandraramya, Thailand’s Ambassador to Israel (right), during news conference
2. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Dr. Osnat Levtzion-Korach, General Director of Shamir Medical Center:
"They arrived walking, in good general condition. We are now in the phase of tests, both physical tests and psychological assessments. They were very, very happy to be here. They were very happy to see the ambassador and her team."
3. Mid of Levtzion-Korach and Chandraramya
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Pannabha Chandraramya, Thai ambassador to Israel:
“They are well taken care of now by all the doctors and they are happy to be released finally. And I just wanted to share with you that they have talked to their families in Thailand as well as and they were happy. You know, it is a wonderful moment. Thank you.”
5. Dr. Yuval Levi of the Israel Health Ministry, speaking during news conference
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Yuval Levi, Israel health ministry:
“Five Thai citizens have just arrived at the Shamir Asaf Harofeh Medical Center. The arrival of the returned captives kidnaped on October 7th deeply moves us all. The Israeli health care system will provide them with all the necessary support upon their return. Their fate is intertwined with ours. The preparation for the reception of all now former captives, both Israeli and foreign, included the establishment of a medical and psychological framework that is both professional and sensitive. All former captives are undergoing an initial medical evaluation.“
7. Wide of briefing area
STORYLINE:
Five Thai hostages who were released by Hamas on Thursday were in a "good general condition," an Israeli health official said.
"They arrived walking, in good general condition," Dr. Osnat Levzion-Korach, General Director of Shamir Medical Center where the five were being treated, told reporters during a briefing in Beer Yaakov.
"We are now in the phase of tests, both physical tests and psychological assessment. They were very, very happy to be here," she added.
Pannabha Chandraramya, Thailand’s ambassador to Israel, said the former captives had spoken to their families back home and they were all "happy to be released”.
Militants in the Gaza Strip on Thursday released eight hostages, three Israelis and the five Thai nationals, as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Israel was later due to release 110 Palestinian prisoners as part of the swap.
Thai nationals were in Israel doing farm work when they were taken captive by militants in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel which triggered the war.
Thursday’s exchange was the third since the ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip earlier this month.
The tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is aimed at ending the war in Gaza and securing the release of dozens of hostages held by the militant group, as well as hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.
Under the ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have jubilantly returned to northern Gaza over the past three days.
However, their homecoming has been bittersweet as nearly everyone has friends or relatives who died, and many northern neighborhoods have been transformed into an apocalyptic landscape of devastation by more than 15 months of war.
AP video shot by Moshe Edri
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