Israel retrieves body of Thai man, latest hostage recovered from 2023 Hamas attack [Video]

Israel’s defence minister says the military has retrieved the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta, who had been held in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas.

Israel Katz made the announcement on Saturday as further Israeli airstrikes killed 45 people, according to local medics.

The news comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had recovered the bodies of Canadian Israeli Judih Weinstein and her husband, Israeli American Gadi Haggai — who were also among the 251 people abducted by the Islamist militant group.

Weinstein was among several Canadian citizens killed in the Oct. 7 attacks.

Pinta’s body was held by the Palestinian militant group the Mujahideen Brigades and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.

Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or …