“We will not rest or be silent until we return all of our hostages home – both the living and the dead,” the PMO said in a statement.
The body of the last Thai hostage, Pinta Nattapong, was recovered from the Gaza Strip on Friday during a special operation conducted by the IDF and Shin Bet, they both said in a joint statement on Saturday.
Hamas is believed to have the body of a second foreign national.
“The operation was made possible by precise intelligence obtained from a Shin Bet interrogation of a terrorist, along with intelligence received from the Hostage Task Force and the IDF Intelligence Directorate,” the statement said.
Identification of Nattapong’s body was carried out by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in cooperation with the Israel Police, the Hostage Task Force of the IDF’s Manpower Directorate.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar updated his counterpart Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangyampongsa on the details of the operation to recover Nattapong’s body, according to Israeli local media. Israel intends to hold a ceremony for Nattapong at Ben Gurion Airport before his coffin is flown to Thailand, Sa’ar said. Sangyampongsa thanked the minister for his efforts.
Hostages square Tel Aviv (photo credit: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)
55 hostages remain in Gaza under Hamas captivity.
“Hamas has 20 living hostages, two we cannot determine, and another 33 dead,” an Israeli security source said on Saturday.
Nattapong was the last Thai hostage held by Hamas
Nattapong was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Released Thai hostages who were captured during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, pose as they hold up Thai national flags in Israel, January 30, 2025 (photo credit: ROYAL THAI GOVERNMENT/ROYAL THAI EMBASSY in Tel Aviv/Handout via REUTERS)
In January 2025, five Thai nationals who were kidnapped and held hostage in Gaza were released from captivity. At that time, Nattapong was believed to be alive.
The freed Thai captives were also working in agriculture in the areas surrounding the Gaza Strip at the time of their capture.
Israeli officials, Hostages Forum, Nir Oz offer condolences
The Thai Embassy informed Nattapong’s family on the situation in coordination with the Defense Intelligence Agency.
“The news of [Nattapong’s] murder is shocking, but nevertheless the certainty in this complex situation provides us with some comfort,” the spokesperson for Kibbutz Nir Oz said in a statement on Saturday.
“We would like to thank the…
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