Thai agricultural worker Nattapong Pinta was abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz in Israel on Oct 7, 2023. PHOTO: HOSTAGE AID WORLDWIDE/X

The Israeli military has retrieved the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta, who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on June 7.

Mr Nattapong’s body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades, and was retrieved from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza in “a special operation”, Mr Katz said.

Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said in a video statement on June 7 that the ministry “is deeply saddened to announce that today, the Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv was informed by a representative of the Israeli government that Mr Nattapong Pinta, the last Thai hostage, has been confirmed dead”.

Mr Nikorndej said Mr Nattapong was one of three Thais held hostage in Gaza. The other two were confirmed dead in 2024, but he said Israel has “not yet been able to retrieve their corpses”.

He said the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv has contacted Mr Nattapong’s family to inform them and would work with the Israeli side to return his body to Thailand as soon as possible.

Mr Nattapong, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small community near the border, where one in four people was killed or taken hostage during the 2023 attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.

The Israeli military said Mr Nattapong was abducted alive and “brutally murdered” by his captors, who also killed two Israeli-American hostages, whose bodies were retrieved this week.

There was no immediate comment from the Mujahideen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas.

The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national.

Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.

The Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to the Israeli authorities.

Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.

Israel has since expanded its offensive across Gaza, as efforts by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to secure another ceasefire have faltered.

Medics in Gaza said 45 people in total were killed in Israeli air strikes across the enclave on June 7.

At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by airstrikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip on June 7, the local health authorities said.

More than one missile landed in the area. The target seemed to have been a multiple-floor residential building, but the explosion damaged several other houses nearby, according to witnesses and media.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment. It later warned people to evacuate the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on June 7 that Gaza’s hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians.

US-backed aid group halts distribution

The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.

Aid distribution was halted on June 6 after the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on June 7.

On June 4, the GHF suspended operations and asked the Israeli military to review security protocols after Palestinian hospital officials said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds of others wounded near distribution points between June 1 and 3.

The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution that the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. The foundation says it has provided around nine million meals so far.

Israel is facing growing international pressure over its offensive against Hamas, which has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis and displaced most of its population.

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in the 2023 attack, Israel’s deadliest day, and took 251 hostages.

Israel responded to the Hamas attacks with a military campaign that has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and left much of the enclave in ruins.

The families of remaining hostages fear that those alive are in danger from the continued Israeli offensive and those dead will be lost forever. Israel says the campaign is aimed at bringing them all back.

More than 40 hostages have been killed in captivity, some in the course of Israeli strikes and others killed by their captors. REUTERS, AFP

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Source: The Straits Times.