Cnn
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The body of a Thai hostage, Nattapong Pinta, which was removed alive during the attacks on October 7 was recovered in the south Gaza Friday, in a military operation, according to a press release from the Israeli army and the security service of Shin Bet.
The announcement comes Just days 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 worked in agriculture, according to an Israeli military official, who said he was estimated that he had been killed in the first months of captivity. Pinta was a husband and a father working in Israel to support his family in Thailand, said the manager.
“We will not rest until all the hostages, alive and deceased, will not return home,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz in a statement.
Pinta was removed by the Mujahidees, the Israeli Defense Forces (FDI) said, an activist group that participated in the terrorist attack on October 7 led by Hamas against Israel. The FDI said it was the same organization that kidnapped the Bibas family and killed Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, the mother and two young sons who have become the most important among the captives of Hamas.
The Ministry of Thailand for Foreign Affairs said on Saturday that it was “deeply saddened” by the news of the death of Pinta.
“The Embassy of the Royal Thai Royal in Tel Aviv was informed by a representative of the Israeli government that Mr. Nattapong Pinta, the last Thai hostage, was confirmed dead,” said Nikorndej Balankura, a ministry spokesman, in a video statement.
Earlier this week, Israel announced that the bodies of Judy Winston-Haggai, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 72, were found in southern Gaza. The two were also taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz. The couple had four children and seven grandchildren.
The recovery of the Pinta body is delivered with an intense Israeli operation in progress in Gaza, the civil defense reporting at least 38 people were killed on Friday in Israeli attacks.
The FDI said four soldiers had been killed and five injured early Friday morning when an explosive was exploded in a Khan Younis building in which they operated, causing part of the structure.
A total of 55 hostages remain in Gaza, one of which was taken in 2014. Twenty would still be alive.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas activists on October 7, many were migrant workers in bad rural regions of Asia, who had gone to work in the agricultural, construction and health care sectors of Israel to send money home.
