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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
• | |
3 min read | |
Israeli military says it recovered body of Thai hostage from southern | |
Gaza | |
By Oren Liebermann, CNN | |
Updated: | |
4:39 PM EDT, Sat June 7, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
The body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, who was abducted alive | |
during the October 7 attacks was recovered from southern in a military | |
operation on Friday, according to a statement from the Israeli military | |
and the Shin Bet security service. | |
The announcement comes after Israel recovered the bodies of two | |
Israeli-American hostages from Gaza. | |
Pinta, 35, was taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel where he | |
had been working in agriculture, according to an Israeli military | |
official, who said it is estimated that he was killed during the first | |
months of captivity. Pinta was a husband and father working in Israel | |
to support his family in Thailand, the official said. | |
“We will not rest until all the hostages, living and deceased, are | |
returned home,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. | |
“The state of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of Nattapong’s | |
family and of the entire Thai people,” said Israeli President Isaac | |
Herzog in a statement shared on social media Saturday evening. | |
Pinta was abducted by the Mujahideen, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) | |
said, a militant group that took part in the Hamas-led October 7 terror | |
attack on Israel. The IDF said it is the same organization that | |
kidnapped the Bibas family and killed Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas, the | |
mother and two young sons who became the most prominent among Hamas’ | |
captives. | |
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday that it was | |
“deeply saddened” by the news of Pinta’s death. | |
“The Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv was informed by a representative | |
of the Israeli government that Mr. Nattapong Pinta, the last Thai | |
hostage, has been confirmed dead,” Nikorndej Balankura, a | |
spokesperson for the ministry, said in a video statement. | |
Earlier this week, Israel announced that the bodies of Judy | |
Winston-Haggai, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 72, were recovered from southern | |
Gaza. The two were also taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The couple had four | |
children and seven grandchildren. | |
The retrieval of Pinta’s body comes with an intense Israeli operation | |
underway in Gaza, with the Civil Defense reporting at least 38 people | |
were killed in Israeli attacks on Friday. | |
The IDF said four soldiers were killed and five wounded early Friday | |
morning when an explosive was detonated in a building in Khan Younis in | |
which they were operating, causing part of the structure to collapse. | |
A total of 55 hostages remain in Gaza, including one taken in 2014. | |
Twenty are believed to still be alive. | |
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas militants on October 7, many | |
were migrant workers from poor rural parts of Asia, who had gone to | |
work in Israel’s agricultural, construction and health care sectors | |
to send money back home. | |
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