Family of last Thai hostage in Gaza praying to receive ‘whatever is left of him’

The family of Sudthisak Rinthalak, one of the two hostages whose bodies are still held by terror groups in Gaza, say they are hoping and waiting to be able to bury their loved one soon.

Speaking to Army Radio in Thai through a translator, Rinthalak’s father, Thong Ma, says he feels sad that he hasn’t received his son’s body.

“I feel I always worry about him, I pray for him,” says Thong Ma.

Rinthalak’s mother, Orn, is deaf.

His brother, Thepporn, tells Army Radio that he 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.

Rinthalak had begun working at Kibbutz Be’eri three months before he was murdered, after years working in Israel’s north. He was killed and taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.

The last time his family spoke to Rinthalak was on October 5, his father says. After the Hamas massacre, the family was sent a clip showing Rinthalak and five others being abducted.

“My heart hurt when I saw it,” says his father.

Five months later, they were told that intelligence showed that Rinthalak was killed on October 7 and his body abducted. His father says that when his son’s body is returned, they will bury him with the proper ceremony.

“I want them to send whatever is left of him,” says Thepporn. “I know he can’t be with us any longer, he is no longer alive.”