Israel retrieves Thai hostage body as 95 more Palestinians killed in Gaza
Israel said on Saturday it retrieved the body of a Thai hostage abducted into the Gaza Strip during the Hamas-led attack that sparked the war, as Israel's military continued its offensive, killing at least 95 people in the past 24 hours, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry. The offensive has destroyed large parts of Hamas-run Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Nattapong Pinta had come to Israel to work in agriculture. Israel's government said he was seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz and killed early in the war, which began on Oct. 7, 2023.
Thailand's foreign ministry said the bodies of two other citizens were yet to be retrieved. Thais were the largest group of foreigners held captive. Many lived on the outskirts of southern Israeli kibbutzim and towns, the first places overrun in the attack. Forty-six Thais have been killed during the war, according to the foreign ministry.
Mouners pray during the funeral of a Palestinian killed in Rafah, Gaza, on Sunday. Reuters
Israel's defence minister said Pinta's body was retrieved from the Rafah area in southern Gaza. The army said he was seized by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that also took two Israeli-American hostages, Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were retrieved on Thursday.
Israel's military later said it killed the head of the Mujahideen Brigades, As'ad Aby Sharaiya, in Gaza City on Saturday.
Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza. Israel says more than half are dead. Families rallied again Saturday evening in Israel, calling for a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home.
Hamas issued an unusual warning about another hostage, Matan Zangauker, saying Israel's military had surrounded the area where he's held and that any harm that came to him during a rescue attempt would be Israel's responsibility. Israel's military didn't immediately comment.
"The decision to expand the (military) ground maneuver is at the cost of Matan's life and the lives of all the hostages,' Zangauker's mother, Einav, told the rally in Tel Aviv.
A strike in Gaza City killed six members of a family, including two children, according to the Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals. Israel's military said the strike targeted the Mujahideen Brigades leader.
"This is the real destruction,' a man said as he carried the body of a small boy from the scene.
Four Israeli strikes hit the Muwasi area in southern Gaza between Rafah and Khan Younis. In northern Gaza, a strike hit an apartment, killing seven people including a mother and five children. Their bodies were taken to Shifa hospital.
"Stand up, my love,' one weeping woman said, touching the shrouded bodies.
Israel said it was responding to Hamas' "barbaric attacks' and dismantling its capabilities. It said it takes all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.
Staff at Nasser hospital, which received the bodies of six people over the past 24 hours, said they were killed while on their way to get food aid. Much of Gaza's population of over 2 million relies on aid after widespread destruction of agriculture as well as a recent Israeli blockade. Experts have warned of famine.
Israel's army has warned that the aid distribution area is an active combat zone during nighttime hours. It said several suspects attempted to approach troops operating in the Tel al-Sultan area overnight "in a manner that posed a threat." The army said troops called out, then fired warning shots as the suspects advanced.
An army official who couldn't be named in line with military procedures said the shots were fired about a kilometer (half-mile) from the distribution site.
Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Israel and Hamas on UN blacklist for violence against children for second year running
Israel and Hamas are back on a UN "list of shame" for grave abuses against children in conflict zones for the second year running. An annual report for 2024, issued by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and released on Friday, identified nearly 20 conflict zones worldwide where the rights of children under 18 have been violated. The report includes a list that names groups and armed forces responsible for abuses such as killing and maiming children, recruiting minors for violence, kidnappings, denying humanitarian aid and sexual violence. The report for 2024 said more than 8,500 incidents had been verified in Israel and Palestine - the highest globally - with 2,917 Palestinian and 15 Israeli children killed or maimed. The October-December 2023 period saw a sharp spike, with 1,637 Palestinian children killed and 1,147 injured, compared to two Israeli child deaths. 'These figures represent real children whose lives have been violently torn from them, whose schools have been bombed, and who have been left without access to life-saving humanitarian aid,' said Bethany Ellis, director of Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict. The report also called out Israel's military operations in Lebanon, where more than 500 children were killed or injured last year. Violence against children in war zones around the world surged to 'unprecedented levels' last year, with the highest number of grave abuses recorded in nearly three decades. The report documented a 25 per cent surge in severe abuses against children compared to 2023, continuing a worsening trend. 'In 2024, violence against children in armed conflict reached unprecedented levels, with a staggering 25 per cent surge in the number of grave violations,' the report said. A total of 41,370 violations were verified – 36,221 committed in 2024 and 5,149 from prior years but newly confirmed – the highest since the UN began systematic monitoring. The figure surpasses 2023's record, which itself saw a 21 per cent rise from 2022. More than 4,500 children were killed and 7,000 injured, with minors enduring 'the brunt of relentless hostilities and indiscriminate attacks', the report said. It also noted a sharp increase in children suffering several acts of abuse, with 22,495 such cases recorded. 'The cries of 22,495 innocent children who should be learning to read or play ball but instead have been forced to learn how to survive gunfire and bombings, should keep all of us awake at night,' said Virginia Gamba, special representative of the UN Secretary General for children and armed conflict. 'This must serve as a wake-up call. We are at the point of no return."
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel says ‘ready for a prolonged campaign' against Iran
Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said on Friday that his country should be 'ready for a prolonged campaign' against Iran. 'We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude, against such an enemy. We must be ready for a prolonged campaign,' Zamir said in a video statement. He added: 'The campaign is not over. Although we have made significant achievements, difficult days still lie ahead.'
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
Judge orders immediate release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil
A US federal judge has ordered the release of Mahmoud Khalil from immigration custody as his legal fight continues to play out. The Trump administration's deportation case against the Palestinian activist and US green card holder is not over yet, but now that he will be out on bail, Khalil will be able to hold his newborn son for the very first time. The decision is a landmark victory for rights organisations that said Khalil's constitutionally protected freedom of speech was not just trampled upon, but he was "punished". Judge Michael Farbiarz said on Friday that the Trump administration was unable to make its case that Khalil would be a danger to the public or a flight risk if released from an immigration detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he was secretly transferred after his arrest. Farbiarz, a New Jersey district court judge who is overseeing Khalil's case, last week ruled it was unconstitutional to detain and deport Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, for supporting Palestinian human rights, and that he should be released from detention. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The court gave the government until Friday morning to appeal. The government then told the court on Friday that it would continue to detain Khalil in Louisiana, saying that Khalil had omitted information on his green card application. "There is at least something to the underlying claim that there is an effort to use the immigration charge here to punish the petitioner (Khalil)," Farbiarz said, adding that punishing someone over a civil immigration matter is unconstitutional. While Farbiarz acknowledged that the government virtually never detains anyone on 'misrepresentation' charges, he said he would uphold their appeal, and did not grant Khalil's release. The government will continue to try to deport Khalil as the case continues. Who is Mahmoud Khalil? When the student protests began at Columbia University following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, Khalil functioned as an intermediary between students and university administrators over the student movement's demands for university divestment from weapons companies profiting from Israel's war on Gaza. Khalil did not participate in the encampments himself, opting instead to negotiate with administrators and offer guidance to the students. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained Khalil on 8 March. His wife, Nour Abdalla, was eight months pregnant. He became the first of a string of international student arrests outside their homes, often by plainclothes masked agents who would not tell them why they were being taken away, or to what location. The one thing they all had in common, despite not knowing one another, is that they opposed the war in Gaza in a public forum or had significant ties to someone who did. Khalil has been held at an ICE prison facility in Jena, Louisiana, since early March. His lawyers believe the Trump administration finds immigration judges in the south to be more favourable to the US government. In April, one of those judges said that Khalil could be deported even though he was a permanent US resident through his wife, an American citizen. According to the Associated Press, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had insisted that Khalil's "presence or activities would compromise a compelling US foreign policy interest'. Marc Van der Hout, one of Khalil's lawyers, said in a statement issued after that ruling that Khalil had been 'subject to a charade of due process', adding his deportation order was 'a flagrant violation of his right to a fair hearing, and a weaponisation of immigration law to suppress dissent'. Van der Hout then turned to Farbiarz to put a stop to that order. The immigration court's refusal to allow Khalil to attend the birth of his son was a double blow to his family.
