Thai Muslim group spoke with Hamas to secure release of captives

A Thai Muslim group which spoke directly with Hamas officials said its efforts were the driving force in securing the release of Thai captives from Gaza during the ongoing temporary truce.

Three Thai hostages were released on Sunday, taking the number of Thai nationals freed since the four-day truce began on Friday to 17.

"We were the sole party that spoke to Hamas since the beginning of the war to ask for the release of Thais," Lerpong Syed, president of the Thai-Iran Alumni Association, told Reuters on Monday.

Lerpong is part of a group of Thai Muslims brought together by the country's parliamentary speaker Wan Muhammad Noor Matha, which travelled to Tehran in October and spoke with Hamas officials.

"If Thailand only relied on the foreign ministry or asked other countries for help - the chances of getting released with the first group would be very low," he said.

The group told Hamas officials during a three-hour meeting that Thais were not party to the conflict and should be freed. The Palestinian group assured them that Thais would be released first and unconditionally once there was a halt in fighting, Lerpong said.

"Our team hit the right spot from the beginning by going to Iran and talking directly to Hamas," said politician Areepen Uttarasin, another member of the Thai group.

The Thai foreign ministry said on Monday that it was exerting all its efforts to secure the release of 15 remaining Thai hostages.