Israel IDs remains, leaving one last hostage in Gaza
Audrey Horowitz and Bassem Mroue |
Remains that militants in Gaza handed to Israel as part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal were those of a Thai agricultural worker.
The return of Sudthisak Rinthalak’s remains leaves just one more hostage to be returned under the agreement.
Sudthisak was an agricultural worker who had been employed at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities in the attack.
Israeli officials said the 42-year-old Thai was killed on October 7, 2023, during the Hamas-led attack in Israel that triggered the Israel-Hamas war and that his body was taken by the militant group Islamic Jihad.
He was officially declared dead on May 16, 2024.
Sudthisak’s remains were returned on Wednesday, a day after militants handed over remains that did not match either of the last two hostages.
Thailand’s foreign ministry said Sudthisak’s family has been notified and thanked the Israeli government for their assistance that led to the release of all 31 Thai hostages taken at the start of the war.
Of them, 28 were returned alive and three dead.
Thais were the largest group of foreigners to be held in captivity.
The Thai foreign ministry has said as well as the hostages, 46 Thais have been killed during the war.
Israeli Ran Gvili is now the last hostage whose remains have yet to be returned.
Gvili was an Israeli police officer who helped people escape from the Nova music festival during the October 7 attack and was killed fighting at another location.
Since the October 10 start of the ceasefire, 20 living hostages and the remains of 27 others have been returned to Israel. In exchange, Israel has released the bodies of hundreds Palestinians to Gaza.
Most remain unidentified.
The return of all the hostages is an essential element of the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire that began in October, which both Hamas and Israel have accused the other of breaking.
In exchange, Israel has been releasing Palestinian prisoners.
The plan is still in the early stages and many questions linger over its implementation.
The plan to secure and govern the territory authorises an international stabilisation force to provide security, approves a transitional authority to be overseen by US President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.
In Gaza, the Kuwait Specialty Hospital in Rafah said on Thursday it had received the bodies of five people, including two children, following an Israeli air strike in the south of the strip late on Wednesday.
Another 32 people were treated for wounds suffered in the strike on the town of Muwasi, the hospital said.
Israel said it launched an air strike targeting a Hamas militant in retaliation for an attack earlier in the day that wounded five Israeli soldiers.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas violated the ceasefire when, according to the army, militants emerged from a tunnel and attacked Israeli soldiers in an area under their control.
More than 360 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza since start of the ceasefire, according to the Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel still carries out strikes in response to what it has called violations of the truce, and bodies from earlier in the war are being recovered from the rubble.
The war began with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 in which about 1200 people were killed and more than 250 others were taken hostage.
Almost all the hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.
The Palestinian death toll has surpassed 70,100 since the war began, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
AP
