Latest news with #Nattapong
The Star
a day ago
- Politics
- The Star
Thai govt saddened by hostage's death in Gaza
The kingdom's Foreign Affairs Ministry said it was 'deeply saddened' by the death of a Thai hostage in Gaza whose body was retrieved by Israeli forces. Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said Saturday in a video statement the ministry 'is deeply saddened to announce that today, the Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv was informed by a representative of the Israeli government that Mr Nattapong Pinta, the last Thai hostage, has been confirmed dead.' An Israeli military statement, which gave his name as Natthapong Pinta, said on Saturday its forces retrieved his body from the Rafah area of southern Gaza. It said he was taken alive as a hostage during Hamas's Oct 7, 2023, attack. Nikorndej said Nattapong was one of three Thais held hostage in Gaza. The other two were confirmed dead in 2024 but Nikorndej said Israel has 'not yet been able to retrieve their corpses'. He said the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv has contacted Nattapong's family to inform them and would work with the Israeli side to return his body to Thailand as soon as possible. — AFP
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Israeli airstrikes kill 55, body of Thai hostage retrieved from Gaza
Palestinians search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of a destroyed house, following an Israeli airstrike on the Al Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza City, on June 7. PHOTO: EPA-EFE JERUSALEM/CAIRO - The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas' Oct 7, 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz said on June 7, as Israeli airstrikes killed 55 people, according to local medics. Mr Nattapong Pinta's body was held by a Palestinian militant group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Mr Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified. Mr Nattapong, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US- and Israeli-backed aid group, said on June 7 it was unable to distribute assistance to Palestinian civilians, blaming threats by Hamas, which Gaza's dominant militant group denied. Israel's military said Mr Nattapong had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American 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 foreign national. Thai agricultural worker Nattapong Pinta was abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz in Israel on Oct 7, 2023. PHOTO: HOSTAGE AID WORLDWIDE/X 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 Gaza said 55 people in total were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the enclave on June 7. At least 15 Palestinians were killed and 50 wounded by airstrikes in the Gaza City district of Sabra in the northern Gaza Strip on June 7, 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 evacuate the nearby district of Jabalia, saying it was going to strike there after rockets were launched by militants in the vicinity. Palestinians inspecting the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, on June 7. PHOTO: REUTERS The Palestinian Health Ministry said on June 7 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 coordinates humanitarian matters with the Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had uncovered 'an underground tunnel route, including a command and control centre from which senior Hamas commanders' operated beneath the European Hospital compound in southern Gaza. It added that it had located several bodies of militants whose identities were 'under examination'. The Israeli government and military said last month it had killed Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas' Gaza chief, but Hamas did not confirm his death. Aid distribution halted The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's 2.3 million people are at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling. Aid distribution was halted on June 6 after the GHF said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. The GHF, which has been fiercely criticised by humanitarian organisations for alleged lack of neutrality, said it was unable to distribute any humanitarian aid on June 7 because Hamas had issued 'direct threats' against its operations. 'These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,' the GHF said in a statement, in which it also said it intended to resume aid distribution 'without delay'. A Hamas official told Reuters he had no knowledge of such 'alleged threats'. Makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City, on June 6. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG On June 4, the GHF suspended operations and asked the Israeli military to review security protocols after Palestinian hospital officials said more than 80 people had been shot dead and hundreds wounded near distribution points between June 1-3. Eyewitnesses blamed Israeli soldiers for the killings. The Israeli military said it fired warning shots on two days, while on June 3 it said soldiers had fired at Palestinian 'suspects' who were advancing towards their positions. The Israeli military said on June 7 that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to the UN and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. The war erupted after Hamas-led militants took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the Oct 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 Gaza, and flattened much of the coastal enclave. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Thailand 'deeply saddened' by death of Gaza hostage, says foreign ministry
Image from The Nation Thailand/ANN BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday it was "deeply saddened" by the death of a Thai hostage in Gaza whose body was retrieved by Israeli forces. Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said in a video statement the ministry "is deeply saddened to announce that today, the Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv was informed by a representative of the Israeli government that Mr Nattapong Pinta, the last Thai hostage, has been confirmed dead." An Israeli military statement, which gave his name as Natthapong Pinta, said on Saturday its forces retrieved his body from the Rafah area of southern Gaza. It said he was taken alive as a hostage during Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and "was murdered while in captivity". The Israeli military statement blamed the Mujahideen Brigades, an armed group close to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad. Nikorndej said Nattapong was one of three Thais held hostage in Gaza. The other two were confirmed dead in 2024 but Nikorndej said Israel has "not yet been able to retrieve their corpses". He said the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv has contacted Nattapong's family to inform them and would work with the Israeli side to return his body to Thailand as soon as possible. Nikorndej said the ministry "expresses its deepest condolences to Nattapong's family". - AFP
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Thailand 'deeply saddened' by death of Gaza hostage: Ministry
Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday it was "deeply saddened" by the death of a Thai hostage in Gaza whose body was retrieved by Israeli forces. Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said in a video statement the ministry "is deeply saddened to announce that today, the Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv was informed by a representative of the Israeli government that Mr Nattapong Pinta , the last Thai hostage, has been confirmed dead." An Israeli military statement, which gave his name as Natthapong Pinta, said on Saturday its forces retrieved his body from the Rafah area of southern Gaza. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dukung Orang Terkasih Menghadapi Limfoma: Mulai Di Sini Limfoma Baca Undo It said he was taken alive as a hostage during Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel and "was murdered while in captivity". The Israeli military statement blamed the Mujahideen Brigades, an armed group close to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad. Live Events Nikorndej said Nattapong was one of three Thais held hostage in Gaza. The other two were confirmed dead in 2024 but Nikorndej said Israel has "not yet been able to retrieve their corpses". He said the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv has contacted Nattapong's family to inform them and would work with the Israeli side to return his body to Thailand as soon as possible. Nikorndej said the ministry "expresses its deepest condolences to Nattapong's family".
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Body of Thai hostage recovered from Gaza, Israel says
Israel has retrieved the body of a Thai national taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack in October 2023, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says. He said the body of Nattapong Pinta was retrieved during a special operation in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on Friday. The 35-year-old was working as an agricultural labourer in southern Israel when he was kidnapped. Mr Nattapong is likely to have been killed during his first months of captivity, an Israeli military official said. Before the operation, it was not known whether he was dead or alive. It comes after the Israeli army recovered the bodies of two Israeli Americans in Gaza earlier this week. Mr Nattapong was the married father of a young son, the military official said. He had been working at Kibbutz Nir Oz to support his family in Thailand when he was captured by a militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the mission to recover his body was launched following information from the interrogation of a "captured terrorist". After reports of his recovery on Saturday, the BBC tried to reach out to Mr Nattapong's wife. She did not answer the call but texted back with a picture of her son crying. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group said the recovery comes after "20 terrible and agonising months of devastating uncertainty". The group urged the Israeli government to reach an agreement with Hamas to free the remaining captives. Mr Nattapong is believed to be the last remaining Thai national abducted during the 7 October 2023 attack. Five Thai hostages were released during a ceasefire earlier this year - all of them alive. The Israeli army retrieved the bodies of an elderly couple, Judy and Gadi Haggai, in the Gazan city of Khan Younis on Thursday. The couple were killed at the same kibbutz and their bodies were also held by the Mujahideen Brigades, according to the IDF. Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led cross-border attack almost 20 months ago, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Some 54 of those captured during the attack remain in captivity, including 31 the Israeli military says are dead. At least 54,677 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the territory's health ministry. Additional reporting by Thanyarat Doksone Israeli military recovers two hostages' bodies in southern Gaza The Thais caught up in the Israel-Gaza war
