Body of Sudthisak Rinthalak, Thai farmer and family breadwinner, returned to Israel

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Israeli officials confirmed Thursday that the body returned from the Gaza Strip a day earlier was Sudthisak Rinthalak, a Thai agricultural worker who came to Israel to financially support his family back home.

Military and Foreign Ministry representatives said they had notified Rinthalak’s family that his body was returned to Israel by Palestinian terror groups, after forensic experts completed identification efforts overnight. The Thai Foreign Ministry also said it had been notified by Israeli authorities of the development.

Rinthalak, an agricultural worker from Thailand, was murdered by Hamas-led terrorists near Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, and his body was taken captive to Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He was 43 years old. His body was located by the Islamic Jihad terror group in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning. Islamic Jihad and Hamas handed over the body to the Red Cross in the afternoon, who then brought it to the IDF.

With his return, the body of just one slain hostage remains in Gaza: police officer Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, who was killed and abducted while battling terrorists in the border community of Alumim on the morning of October 7.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/body-of-sudthisak-rinthalak-thai-farmer-and-family-breadwinner-returned-to-israel/

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1. Sudthisak Rinthalak

Nikorndej Balankura, the Thai Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, said that Sudthisak’s family has been notified. He thanked the Israeli government for their 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.

Rinthalak, from the Rattanawapi District of Nong Khai province in northeastern Thailand, had been working for three months on Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023. His family never heard from him after the onslaught, and eventually they were informed that he was believed to be taken captive to Gaza.

In May 2024, his family was informed by Israeli authorities that both he and fellow Thai captive Sonthaya Oakkharasr had been slain on October 7 and their bodies taken hostage to Gaza.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Thursday that his return “offers some comfort to a family that has endured unbearable uncertainty for over two years.” It cited the family as having recalled that Sudthisak’s favorite food was an omelet with tomatoes.