NONG KHAI: Two years after Thai worker Sudthisak Rinthalak was killed by Hamas militants, 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 was among 47 hostages whose bodies 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.
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 and 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 militants 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.”
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We’ll bring him home: Thai family’s long wait for Gaza hostage to end
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We’ll bring him home: Thai family’s long wait for Gaza hostage to end
- Sudthisak was among 47 hostages whose bodies Hamas has returned under the current ceasefire agreement
Bangladesh PM names cabinet after election win
- Tarique Rahman was sworn into office on Tuesday after a landslide election victory
- The 50-member cabinet was announced in a gazette notification issued late Tuesday
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has named a former commerce minister to steer the country’s troubled economy and kept the defense portfolio for himself as he formed his first cabinet.
Rahman was sworn into office on Tuesday after a landslide election victory, taking over from the interim administration that had led the country of 170 million people since a deadly 2024 uprising that toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.
The 50-member cabinet announced in a gazette notification issued late Tuesday includes Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, 76, a businessman and veteran lawmaker who has now returned to the finance ministry.
Chowdhury is tasked with reviving growth after months of turmoil that rattled investor confidence in the world’s second-largest garment exporter.
He had previously served in the cabinet of Rahman’s late mother, three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia, but was forced to resign in 2004.
According to media reports, his resignation came after he had granted permission for Taiwan to open a commercial office in Dhaka. Chowdhury has not spoken publicly about the issue.
He was also arrested several times during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, as her government regularly targeted opposition leaders in cases often decried as politically motivated.
Rahman, 60, has appointed himself defense minister, as his government faces a daunting list of challenges including improving security and healing rifts in a country polarized by years of bitter rivalry.
Bangladesh is squeezed between India — where border tensions are high — and Myanmar, where clashes have spilled over into frontier areas.
Bangladesh is home to more than a million Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar.
Khalilur Rahman is the foreign minister, an experienced diplomat and former UN official who holds degrees from universities in Dhaka and the United States.
Khalilur Rahman held the security portfolio in the caretaker government and helped mediate trade talks with the United States.
He faces the tricky task of balancing regional relations after ties with neighbor India soured during the interim government, and Dhaka deepened engagement with New Delhi’s arch-enemy Pakistan.
India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar congratulated his counterpart on Wednesday, saying in a statement that they would work together to “advance our cooperation.”
Prime Minister Rahman is expected to chair his first cabinet meeting later on Wednesday.
Other members of the cabinet include veteran politicians, former ministers and lawmakers, as well as academics and several party workers.
Rahman was sworn into office on Tuesday after a landslide election victory, taking over from the interim administration that had led the country of 170 million people since a deadly 2024 uprising that toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.
The 50-member cabinet announced in a gazette notification issued late Tuesday includes Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, 76, a businessman and veteran lawmaker who has now returned to the finance ministry.
Chowdhury is tasked with reviving growth after months of turmoil that rattled investor confidence in the world’s second-largest garment exporter.
He had previously served in the cabinet of Rahman’s late mother, three-time prime minister Khaleda Zia, but was forced to resign in 2004.
According to media reports, his resignation came after he had granted permission for Taiwan to open a commercial office in Dhaka. Chowdhury has not spoken publicly about the issue.
He was also arrested several times during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, as her government regularly targeted opposition leaders in cases often decried as politically motivated.
Rahman, 60, has appointed himself defense minister, as his government faces a daunting list of challenges including improving security and healing rifts in a country polarized by years of bitter rivalry.
Bangladesh is squeezed between India — where border tensions are high — and Myanmar, where clashes have spilled over into frontier areas.
Bangladesh is home to more than a million Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar.
Khalilur Rahman is the foreign minister, an experienced diplomat and former UN official who holds degrees from universities in Dhaka and the United States.
Khalilur Rahman held the security portfolio in the caretaker government and helped mediate trade talks with the United States.
He faces the tricky task of balancing regional relations after ties with neighbor India soured during the interim government, and Dhaka deepened engagement with New Delhi’s arch-enemy Pakistan.
India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar congratulated his counterpart on Wednesday, saying in a statement that they would work together to “advance our cooperation.”
Prime Minister Rahman is expected to chair his first cabinet meeting later on Wednesday.
Other members of the cabinet include veteran politicians, former ministers and lawmakers, as well as academics and several party workers.
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