Israel says body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta has been retrieved from Gaza
Israel says it has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage kidnapped by Hamas militants and taken to Gaza during the October 7, 2023, terror attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the body of Thai citizen Nattapong Pinta had been returned to Israel in a special military operation.
Mr Pinta was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed in captivity near the start of the war, the prime minister's office said.
Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive by Hamas militants.
The news comes a day after the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken from the same kibbutz were retrieved.
Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza, of whom Israel says more than half are dead.
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News.com.au
26 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near aid centre
Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 36 Palestinians on Saturday, six of them in a shooting near a US-backed aid distribution centre. The Israeli military told AFP that troops had fired "warning shots" at individuals that it said were "advancing in a way that endangered the troops". The shooting deaths were the latest reported near the aid centre run by the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in the southern district of Rafah and came after it resumed distributions following a brief suspension in the wake of similar deaths earlier this week. Meanwhile, an aid boat with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was nearing Gaza in a bid to highlight the plight of Palestinians in the face of an Israeli blockade that has only been partially eased. Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that at around 7:00 am (0400 GMT), "six people were killed and several others wounded by the forces of the Israeli occupation near the Al-Alam roundabout", where they had gathered to seek humanitarian aid from the distribution centre around a kilometre (a little over half a mile) away. Palestinians have congregated at the roundabout almost daily since late May. AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls compiled by the civil defence agency or the circumstances of the deaths it reports. Samir Abu Hadid, who was there early Saturday, told AFP that thousands of people had gathered near the roundabout. "As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli occupation forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians," Abu Hadid said. - Activist boat nears Gaza - The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations in late May as Israel partially eased a more than two-month-long aid blockade on the territory. UN agencies and major aid groups have declined to work with it, citing concerns it serves Israeli military goals. On Saturday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,772, the majority civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable. The war was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine. The aid boat Madleen, organised by an international activist coalition, was sailing towards Gaza on Saturday, aiming to breach Israel's naval blockade and deliver aid to the territory, organisers said. "We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast," German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP. "We are all good," she added. In a statement from London, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza -- a member organisation of the flotilla coalition -- said the ship had entered Egyptian waters. The group said it remains in contact with international legal and human rights bodies and warned that any interception would constitute "a blatant violation of international humanitarian law". The Palestinian territory was under Israeli naval blockade even before Hamas's October 2023 attack and the Israeli military has made clear it intends to enforce it. "For this case as well, we are prepared," army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said on Tuesday. - Body of Thai hostage recovered - "We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly." A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach Israel's naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead. The Israeli military has stepped up its operations in Gaza in recent weeks in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war. On Saturday, the military issued evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, saying they had been used for rocket attacks. Separately, in a special operation in the Rafah area on Friday, Israeli forces retrieved the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta, Defence Minister Israel Katz said. "Nattapong came to Israel from Thailand to work in agriculture, out of a desire to build a better future for himself and his family," Katz said. He was "brutally murdered in captivity by the terrorist organisation Mujahideen Brigades", the minister charged. The Mujahideen Brigades is an armed group close to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad that Israel has also accused over other deaths of hostages seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz near the border. The military said Nattapong's family and Thai officials had been notified of the operation. Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said the country was "deeply saddened" by his death. During the October 2023 attack, militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 31 the Israeli military says are dead.
Perth Now
2 hours ago
- Perth Now
US-backed aid group says it is facing Hamas threats
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it has been unable to distribute any humanitarian aid because Palestinian militants Hamas have issued "direct threats" against the organisation's operations. "These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk," the organisation said in a statement on Saturday. "GHF will not be deterred. We remain committed to safe, secure and independent aid delivery. We are actively adapting our operations to overcome these threats and fully intend to resume distributions without delay." The Israeli military on Saturday retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz said, as Israeli airstrikes killed 45 people, according to local medics. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in south of the enclave, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified. Nattapong Pinta was a hardworking and beloved man who worked in agriculture in Kibbutz Nir Oz. He was held hostage for 610 days by terrorists in Gaza. On October 7, 2023, he was abducted with some of his friends. His family, wife and son are waiting for his return. He was… Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 7, 2025 Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza Strip border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war. Israel's military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to the Gaza Strip the bodies of two more US-Israeli hostages that were retrieved earlier this week. There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreigner. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive. The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase. Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US., Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered. Medics in the Gaza Strip said 45 people in total were killed in Israeli air strikes across the enclave on Saturday. At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by air strikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, local health authorities said. More than one missile landed in the area. The target seemed to have been a multi-floor residential building but the explosion damaged several other houses nearby, according to witnesses and media. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. It later warned people to leave the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity. The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located. There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that co-ordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinian side. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave. Families of remaining hostages fear that those alive are in danger from the continued Israeli offensive and those dead will be lost forever. Israel says the campaign is aimed at bringing them all back and ending Hamas rule in the enclave.
West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
US-backed aid group says it is facing Hamas threats
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it has been unable to distribute any humanitarian aid because Palestinian militants Hamas have issued "direct threats" against the organisation's operations. "These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk," the organisation said in a statement on Saturday. "GHF will not be deterred. We remain committed to safe, secure and independent aid delivery. We are actively adapting our operations to overcome these threats and fully intend to resume distributions without delay." The Israeli military on Saturday retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz said, as Israeli airstrikes killed 45 people, according to local medics. Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in south of the enclave, 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 Strip border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war. Israel's military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to the Gaza Strip the bodies of two more US-Israeli hostages that were retrieved earlier this week. There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreigner. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive. The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase. Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US., Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered. Medics in the Gaza Strip said 45 people in total were killed in Israeli air strikes across the enclave on Saturday. At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by air strikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, local health authorities said. More than one missile landed in the area. The target seemed to have been a multi-floor residential building but the explosion damaged several other houses nearby, according to witnesses and media. The Israeli military did not immediately comment. It later warned people to leave the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity. The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Saturday that Gaza's hospitals only had fuel for three more days and that Israel was denying access for international relief agencies to areas where fuel storages designated for hospitals are located. There was no immediate response from the Israeli military or COGAT, the Israeli defence agency that co-ordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinian side. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel's single deadliest day. Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave. Families of remaining hostages fear that those alive are in danger from the continued Israeli offensive and those dead will be lost forever. Israel says the campaign is aimed at bringing them all back and ending Hamas rule in the enclave.
