Family of murdered hostage Sudthisak Rinthalak awaits return of his remains to Thailand

NONG KHAI, Thailand — Two years after Thai worker Sudthisak Rinthalak was killed by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel and his body abducted to Gaza, his family in northeastern Thailand is preparing to welcome his remains home and hold a Buddhist ceremony they believe will bring his spirit peace.

Sudthisak’s remains were among 27 bodies of hostages that Hamas has returned under the current ceasefire agreement. The handover of deceased hostages was a key condition of the initial phase of the deal aimed at ending the war in Gaza, with Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip continuing to hold the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, 24.

Sudthisak’s elder brother, Thepporn, has spent the past two years fulfilling promises he made to his younger sibling, using compensation money to build a new house, buy pickup trucks for their elderly parents and expand their rubber farm.

But the 50-year-old farmer says none of it matters without Sudthisak there to see it.

“Everything is done, but the person I did these things for is not here,” Thepporn said, walking through the rubber plantation in Nong Khai province near the Laos border.

Israel identified Sudthisak’s remains on Thursday after Hamas handed over his body as part of a ceasefire deal. The 44-year-old agricultural worker was captured by Hamas at an avocado farm during its October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that started the war and was later killed at Kibbutz Be’eri.

The last image his family has of Sudthisak came from a video sent by friends that showed him lying face down with terrorists pointing guns at him.

“I feel sad because I couldn’t do anything to help him,” Thepporn said. “There was nothing I could do when I saw him with my own eyes. He was hiding behind a wooden frame, and they were pointing the gun at him.”

For months, the family waited through multiple hostage releases, hoping Sudthisak would be among those freed alive. Each time brought disappointment.

“Whenever there was a hostage release, he was never included,” Thepporn said.

Sudthisak had gone to Israel to earn money to support his father, Thongma, 77, and mother, On, 80, who live in a farming community from which young people commonly go abroad for work.

His sister-in-law, Boonma Butrasri, wiped away tears as she spoke about the family’s loss.

“I don’t want war to happen. I don’t want this at all,” she said.

Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai laborers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country.

Thepporn said his brother’s death serves as a warning to other Thai workers considering jobs abroad.

“I just want to tell the world that you’ve got to think very carefully when sending your family abroad,” he said.

“See which countries are at war or not, and think carefully.