October 7 · Personal story
Mongkhol Phajuabboon
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Nir Oz, according to the named hostage entry.
Current outcome
Released alive · November 24, 2023
Released on November 24, 2023; returned to Thailand on November 30.
01
Work, home and daily calls
Mongkhol was a Thai worker in Israel from Sisaket Province. His wife, Thipwan Pholdong, said they had two daughters. He went to work in Israel on December 24, 2020. They spoke every day, before and after his work. She said he sent 50,000 baht home each month, which she saved toward a new house. In November 2023, Naewna visited the family home in Huai Chan Subdistrict, Khun Han District, and reported that he was 38.
02
Taken from Nir Oz
Mongkhol was abducted on October 7, 2023, during the attack on southern Israel. The British parliamentary commission’s named hostage record places his abduction at Kibbutz Nir Oz. At home in Sisaket, his wife and two daughters were separated from the husband and father with whom they had kept daily contact.
03
The first news came from a friend
Mongkhol was held in Gaza until November 24. His wife learned that he was alive when a friend in Israel recognized him stepping down from a van carrying released hostages. The friend sent her a photograph and video, then called with the news. In her November 25 interview, Thipwan described the relief of knowing her husband was free, while the family still waited for him to return to Thailand.
04
Release in Israel, return to Thailand
Mongkhol was among the first ten Thai hostages released on November 24, 2023. After six more days in Israel, he returned to Thailand on November 30 with a group of 17 former hostages. Their El Al flight LY081 landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 15:12, according to Banmuang’s report, which named him among the passengers.
05
Thipwan rejects another trip abroad
While preparing for his homecoming on November 25, Thipwan said she did not want him to return to Israel for work, even if the war ended. She felt the risk was too great and said the family could manage carefully on lower earnings at home. She planned a traditional wrist-tying welcome ceremony and said he would then take temporary monastic vows in Maha Sarakham, where his parents lived.