The Israeli military has retrieved the body of Thai captive Nattapong Pinta, who has been held in Gaza since Hamas’ onslaught on Israel on October 7, 2023, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Saturday.
The Mujahedeen Brigades, a Palestinian militant group, kept Pinta’s body, which was recovered from the Rafah area in southern Gaza, according to Katz.
His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, 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 Hamas-led 2023 attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
The Israeli military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved this week.
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel in the 2023 attack, Israel’s deadliest day, and took 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza. Twenty hostages are believed to still be alive, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel responded to the Hamas attacks with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities in the Hamas-run strip.
Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza – 33 of whom have been confirmed dead.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a news release that “the recovery of Nattapong Pinta represents the fulfillment of a basic moral and human obligation, allowing his family the closure they desperately need.”
