By AUDREY HOROWITZ and BASSEM MROUE
JERUSALEM (AP) — Remains turned over 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 remains handed over 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 those, 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.
Returning hostages’ remains
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.
With the first phase still incomplete, plans for further phases of the ceasefire remain up in the air, raising questions over how it will be implemented.
Under the U.N.-backed plan, an international security force is to deploy in Gaza to keep security and ensure the disarmament of Hamas, while an international administration headed by U.S. President Donald Trump governs the territory. However, there has been no word on the makeup of the administration and countries have been slow to commit to participating in the security force, with do far only Indonesia saying it is preparing troops for a possible deployment.
Israel strikes southern Lebanon
Separately, Israel carried out a string of airstrikes on Thursday in several villages of southern Lebanon, targeting what the military said were weapons storehouses of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. There was no report of casualties from the strikes, which came after the military issued warnings to residents to evacuate areas around the targets.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of continuing to hold onto its weapons and rebuilding its arsenal in violation of a year-old ceasefire, under which Israel agreed to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon agreed to quell Hezbollah activity in the south.
While the Lebanese government has been working to disarm some armed factions in the country, Hezbollah has refused to give up its weapons as long as Israel continues to occupy several hills along the border and carries out almost daily strikes.
Strike kills a family in Gaza
In southern Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment housing displaced Palestinians late Wednesday killed five people from a single family, including two children, according to the Kuwait Specialty Hospital, where the bodies were taken. It said another 32 people were wounded.
Israel said it launched an airstrike targeting a Hamas combatant in retaliation for an attack earlier in the day that wounded five Israeli soldiers. The military said they emerged from a tunnel and attacked Israeli troops in the Israeli-controlled part of southern Gaza.
Relatives of the dead Palestinians wept over their loved ones’ being transported in white body bags through the city of Khan Younis on Thursday.
Aisha Abu Jazar, a woman living near the five family members who 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.
War has compiled a grim toll
Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed 366 Palestinians since the start of the ceasefire. Troops have repeatedly shot and killed Palestinians near the so-called Yellow Line, which divides the Israeli-controlled part of Gaza from the rest of the territory, and Israel has carried out airstrikes in response to what it calls violations of the truce.
In the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, 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.
Israel’s campaign since then has killed more than 70,100 Palestinians, 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 Strip, and Megan Janetsky in Jerusalem contributed to this report.