To keep their hopes up, the four Thai men, kept captive by Hamas in Gaza, relied on chess games on a makeshift board, memories of family and craving for Thai food.

According to Reuters, few of the freed hostages have spoken at length about their ordeal, though others who have since been released also described beatings and death threats.

“I thought I would die,” Thai farm labourer Anucha Angkaew said on Wednesday, at his family home in rural northeastern Thailand, where he returned this month after 50 days in captivity.

Almost all that time was spent inside two small underground rooms, secured by armed guards and accessed by dark narrow tunnels.

Once in Gaza, the uniformed gunmen handed the Thais to a small group of men who took them to an abandoned house and tied their hands behind their backs.