Body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta recovered by Israeli military
Before Pinta’s body was retrieved, three Thai hostages remained in captivity and two were confirmed dead
Israel says it has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage kidnapped into Gaza on October 7, 2023, as it continues its military offensive across the strip, killing at least 22 people overnight, according to health officials.
The Prime Minister’s office said on Saturday that the body of Thai citizen Nattapong Pinta was returned to Israel in a special military operation.
Pinta was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity near the start of the war, said the government.
This comes two days after the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages were retrieved. Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza, of whom Israel says more than half are dead.
The defence minister said on Saturday that Pinta’s body was retrieved from the Rafah area. He had come to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture.
The army said he was taken into Gaza by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that it said had also abducted and killed Shiri Bibas and her two small children. It is also the same group that took the two Israeli-American hostages, Judith Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were retrieved by the army on Thursday.
