Israel Confirms The Body Of A Hostage Returned By Hamas Is A Thai Citizen

Israeli soldiers pay their respects to Sudthisak Rintharak's body. (Source: IDF)

JAKARTA - Israeli authorities confirmed the bodies returned by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Wednesday belonged to hostages in the Gaza Strip, Sudthisak Rinthalak.

Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli military (Israel Defense Forces) have notified the Thai citizen's family that his body had been returned to Israel after forensic experts completed an identification effort, reported The Times of Israel (4/12).

Rintharak, who was a worker on agricultural land, was killed in an attack led by Hamas near Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7, 2023. The body of the 42-year-old worker was then taken by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group to the Gaza Strip.

Rintharak's body was found by Islamic Jihad in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday morning. Islamic Jihad and Hamas handed over the bodies to the Red Cross in the afternoon, which then took them to the IDF.

With this return, there is still one hostage remains in Gaza, police officer Sergeant Maot Ran Gvili who was killed and kidnapped while battling terrorists in the Alumim border community on the morning of October 7, 2023.

"The Israeli government also feels the deep sorrow of the Rintharak family and the entire family of the hostages who died," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

The PMO declared Israel "tightened, committed, and worked tirelessly" to bring back the last hostages who died to be buried, adding Hamas "required to fulfill its commitment to the mediators and repatriate them as part of the implementation of the agreement."

It is known that Palestinian militant groups and Israelis agreed on the first phase of the ceasefire to take effect on October 10.

Under the agreement, Palestinian militants must hand over the last 20 surviving hostages, as well as 28 hostages' bodies. reported Al Arabiya from AFP.

With the latest repatriation, 27 bodies have been returned. In exchange, Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners under its custody and returned the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians who have died.