Single hostage remains in Gaza after identification of Thai worker's remains

Remains that militants in Gaza handed to Israel were those of Thai agricultural worker Sudthisak Rinthalak, Israeli and Thai officials said Thursday. The confirmation brought the first phase of Gaza’s tenuous 8-week-old ceasefire a step closer to completion, with one more hostage’s remains still to be returned.

The subsequent phases under a U.S.-drafted, U.N.-backed plan for Gaza remain deeply uncertain. There has been no word on how provisions for Hamas’ disarmament will be carried out, or how a planned international administration and security force will be established.

Both Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the truce since it began Oct. 10. Israeli airstrikes and shootings during the ceasefire have killed some 366 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Israel says Hamas has carried out attacks on its soldiers. Around half the devastated Gaza Strip remains under Israeli military control, with most of the population of some 2 million displaced from their homes and dependent on international aid.

In a sign for the potential for turmoil, the leader of an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia, Yasser Abu Shabab, was shot to death during a dispute with another family in southern Gaza, his militia said Thursday. The killing could be a setback for Israeli efforts to prop up its own alternative to Hamas in Gaza.

The Popular Forces is one of several armed Palestinian groups supported by Israel and operating in Israeli-controlled zones. The groups tout themselves as anti-Hamas nationalist forces but have been denounced by many Palestinians, including Abu Shabab’s family, as tools of the Israeli military.

Returning hostages’ remains

Sudthisak, whose remains were handed over by militants on Wednesday, had been employed at Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel.

Thais make up a large part of Israel’s agricultural workforce. They were the largest group of foreigners to be taken captive by militants in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

The 42-year-old Sudthisak was killed when the militants stormed into Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities in the attack, and his body taken by the militant group Islamic Jihad, according to the Israeli military.

In the attack, Militants killed.around 1,200 people and took more than 250 others hostage, triggering Israel’s campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 70,100 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

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. Of those, 28 were returned alive and three dead. In addition to the hostages, 46 Thais have been killed in the war, according to the ministry,

Israeli Ran Gvili is now the last hostage whose remains have yet to be returned. Gvili was an Israeli police officer who was killed at Kibbutz Alumim as he fought to protect residents and save Israelis fleeing gunmen at the nearby Nova music festival.

Since ceasefire began, 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.