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.
“The Israeli government shares in the deep sorrow of the Rinthalak family and of all the families of the fallen hostages,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Thursday.
The PMO added that Israel is “determined, committed and working tirelessly” to bring back Gvili, the final slain hostage, for burial, adding that Hamas is “required to fulfill its commitments to the mediators and return them as part of the implementation of the agreement.”
Israel’s hostage coordinator, Gal Hirsch, has informed Rinthalak’s family that arrangements for the repatriation of his remains to Thailand will be coordinated with the Thai embassy in Israel, it said.
Rinthalak’s family and Thai Ambassador to Israel Boonyarit Vichienpuntu conveyed “their thanks and deep recognition to Israel for the efforts to return Sudthisak and the constant support for the family since the war broke out,” said the Prime Minister’s Office.
Rinthalak is survived by his parents, Thong Ma and Orn, and his older brother, Thepporn. He was previously divorced and had no children.
President Isaac Herzog sent condolences to the Rinthalak family, as well as to the people of his home country of Thailand.
“For 789 painful days, Sudthisak was held hostage in Gaza,” Herzog said in a statement. “His family back in Thailand have waited in agony for his return. Now, Sudthisak can finally be laid to rest with dignity.”
Herzog added: “On behalf of the people of Israel, I send my deepest condolences to King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, Sudthisak Rinthalak’s family, and the entire Thai people. I also express my appreciation for the Thai community in Israel, who continue to contribute so much to our country.”
The president’s statement noted that Rinthalak was one of 31 Thai nationals taken hostage that day. During the attack, 39 Thai nationals were murdered.
Herzog vowed to keep pushing for the return of Gvili’s body: “When we say we won’t stop until every last hostage is home, we mean it,” he said.
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.
Was working on Kibbutz Be’eri when Hamas-led terrorists killed him
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.
“He was employed by farms in the Gaza border region, where he was known as hard-working and well-liked by his coworkers,” the forum added.
Earlier this week, Hebrew media outlets spoke with Rinthalak’s family about the long wait for his return.
Speaking in Thai via a translator, Rinthalak’s father, Thong Ma, told Army Radio in a Wednesday report he felt sad that he still hadn’t received his son’s body.
“I feel I always worry about him, I pray for him,” said Thong Ma.
His brother, Thepporn, told Army Radio that he had pushed his brother to go work in Israel eight years earlier, when Rinthalak was 35 years old and had just gotten divorced.
“I feel guilty, but I wanted him to find himself there,” said Thepporn, and recalled that Sudthisak hoped to find a wife while in Israel.
Every week, Rinthalak would send money to his family in Thailand that he earned working in Israel, they said.
Thong Ma previously described his son to the BBC as the “missing pillar of the family” and its “breadwinner.”
On Monday, the Ynet outlet also published an interview with the Rinthalak family.
His mother, On, said that during the last conversation with her son, the family asked that he come home for a visit.
“We hadn’t seen him in many years, ever since he went to Israel for work,” she said, according to an English-language report of the interview.
The bodies of 27 deceased hostages have been returned to Israel gradually, without any assurances or fixed timeline, over the course of the past seven weeks, as part of the US-brokered ceasefire that halted the war.
A total of 31 workers from Thailand were abducted on October 7, the largest group of foreigners to be held by terror groups in Gaza. Most of them were released during two previous ceasefires. The Thai Foreign Ministry has said that, in addition to the hostages, 46 Thais were killed during the Hamas massacre in Israel and the war that followed.
The first phase of the ceasefire deal, delineated in the October 9 ceasefire agreement, includes the return of all hostages, living and dead. The rest of the US-backed plan, which has not been formally agreed on, would see Israeli troops withdraw further from Gaza as Hamas disarms and hands control over to a transitional governing body and multinational peacekeeping force.
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