Body of Thai hostage recovered from Gaza, Israel says

Nattapong Pinta was captured alive and was likely killed during the first months of captivity, the Israeli military says.

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He said the body of Nattapong Pinta was retrieved during a special operation in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on Friday. The 35-year-old was working as an agricultural labourer in southern Israel when he was kidnapped.

Mr Nattapong is likely to have been killed during his first months of captivity, an Israeli military official said. Before the operation, it was not known whether he was dead or alive.

It comes after the Israeli army recovered the bodies of two Israeli Americans in Gaza earlier this week.

Mr Nattapong was the married father of a young son, the military official said. He had been working at Kibbutz Nir Oz to support his family in Thailand when he was captured by a militant group called the Mujahideen Brigades.