ID of Thai agricultural worker's remains leaves 1 final hostage in Gaza
[December 04, 2025]
By AUDREY HOROWITZ and BASSEM MROUE
JERUSALEM (AP) — 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, Israeli and Thai officials said Thursday. 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 was killed on Oct. 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 Wednesday, a day after militants
handed over remains that didn't match either of the last two hostages.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura said Sudthisak’s
family has been notified and thanked the Israeli government for
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 in addition to 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 Oct. 7 attack and was killed
fighting at another location.
Since the Oct. 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 U.S.-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 authorizes
an international stabilization force to provide security, approves a
transitional authority to be overseen by U.S. President Donald Trump and
envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.
More violence in Gaza
In Gaza, the Kuwait Specialty Hospital in Rafah said Thursday it had
received the bodies of five people, including two children, following an
Israeli airstrike in the south of the strip late Wednesday.
Another 32 people were treated for wounds sustained in the strike on the
town of Muwasi, the hospital said.
Israel said it launched an airstrike 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.
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Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli
military strike, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip,
Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Grieving relatives angry at deaths during ceasefire
Relatives of the dead Palestinians wept and wailed over their loved
ones' bodies being transported in white body bags through the city
of Khan Younis on Thursday.
All five of the dead belong to the same family. Blood stains still
marked the mattresses on the floor of a tent encampment that was
struck.
Some relatives voiced their outrage that people are still being
killed during what's supposed to be a cessation of fighting.
Aisha Abu Jazar, a woman living near where the Palestinians were
killed, said she was shocked to hear “unusually intense fire” by
Israelis overnight.
“They fired a missile at a tent made of cloth, plastic, and wood.
The children were asleep. What did the children do to deserve being
torn apart in their sleep? What did they do to deserve this?” she
said.
“We were supposed to be in a ceasefire,” she added.
The war's grim toll
More than 360 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza since start
of the ceasefire, according to 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 Oct. 7,
2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250
others were taken hostage. Almost all of 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 which operates under the
Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and
maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the
international community.
___
Associated Press writers Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok, Wafaa
Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, and Megan Janetsky in Jerusalem
contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
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