The Thai Embassy in Israel is making arrangements for the repatriation of the remains of a Thai national, after Hamas returned the remains of two hostages to Israeli officials.
Nikorndej Balankura, spokesman for the Thai Foreign Ministry, said that one of the two sets of remains have been identified as those of Sonthaya Akarasri, 31. He added that the ministry has already informed the family of the deceased and will send his remains back to his family as quickly as possible.
Nikorndej also said that the Thai Foreign Ministry has thanked the Israeli government and all parties concerned for their tireless efforts to locate, rescue or reclaim all the hostages held captive by Hamas since October 7th, 2023.
For the remains of the other Thai hostage, he said the ministry and the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv have been coordinating with Israeli officials to repatriate them.
The return of the remains of the hostages is an integral part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, brokered by the United States.
Israeli officials have, so far, received 12 sets of remains, out of a total of 28 still unaccounted for. They have also expressed dissatisfaction over what they see as Hamas’ delay in the handover of hostages’ remains.
Hamas have, however, insisted that they remain committed to the ceasefire agreement, but pointed to the problem of retrieving hostages’ bodies buried under collapsed buildings in Gaza.
31 Thai workers were taken captive during the Hamas raid into Israel in 2023. Five of them were released and returned to Thailand in February this year. 46 were killed.
