Body of Thai hostage taken on October 7 recovered by Israel in 'special operation'
7 June 2025, 10:33
The Israeli military says it has recovered the body of a Thai hostage taken into Gaza during the October 7 attack.
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The body of Thai citizen Nattapong Pinta was retrieved during a so-called special military operation, the Israeli prime minister’s office said on Saturday.
It comes as Israel continued its deadly assault on Gaza overnight, killing at least 22 people.
Mr Pinta was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity near the start of the war, said the Israeli government.
This news 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.
Israel's defence minister said on Saturday that Mr Pinta's body was retrieved from the Rafah area. He had come to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture.
A statement from the hostage forum, which supports the hostages, said it stands with Mr Pinta's family and shares in their grief. It called on the country's decision makers to bring home the remaining hostages and give those who have died a proper burial.
Mr Pinta’s body was retrieved amid the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, as well as an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis in the region.
At least 53,000 people, the vast majority women and children, have been killed by Israel in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack.
Around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed by Hamas, with a further 251 abducted.
55 hostages still remain in Gaza, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
A generation of children in Gaza face "malnutrition, catastrophic food insecurity and famine" unless more humanitarian aid enters the Strip without restrictions, the UN's aid chief said this week.
Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN's World Food Programme, has called on Israel to "get in and get in at scale" aid deliveries without limits.
"We can't wait for this.
"We need safe, unfettered, clear access all the way in and we're not getting that right now," she said.
She stressed that people in Gaza are "starving, they're hungry, they're doing what they can do to feed their families".
"It's very, very important that people realise that the only way to stave off malnutrition, catastrophic food insecurity and, of course, famine would be by complete and total access for organisations like mine," she added.
Right now, she said there are "over 500,000 people within Gaza that are catastrophically food insecure."
"I try and put myself in their situation: I'm a mother and grandmother, and I cannot imagine having my children ask me for food and me not being able to give it them.
"I don't know what that does to a human spirit but I don't want to see any more of that as a humanitarian aid worker," she told Sky News.
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