SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Sam Mednick and Mohammad Jahjouh
Israel says it has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage abducted into the Gaza Strip during the Hamas-led attack that sparked the war, as the families of hostages still in the territory pleaded for a ceasefire to allow their relatives to come home.
Israel’s military continued its offensive on Saturday, killing at least 95 people in 24 hours, according to Gaza’s health ministry, with hospital workers saying six people were killed while trying to get aid. More than 80 people have been killed over the past two weeks in shootings near new aid hubs, where thousands of desperate Palestinians are now being directed to collect food from a controversial group backed by Israel and the United States.
People in Tel Aviv demand the end of the war and immediate release of hostages, and protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, on Saturday.Credit: AP
Fifty-five hostages remain in Gaza and Israel says more than half are dead. Hamas issued an unusual warning about one hostage, Matan Zangauker, saying Israel’s military had surrounded the area where he was 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.
Families rallied again in Israel on Saturday evening (Sunday AEST), calling for a ceasefire deal to bring everyone home, including Zangauker’s mother, Einav.
“The decision to expand the [military] ground manoeuvre is at the cost of Matan’s life and the lives of all the hostages,” she told the rally in Tel Aviv.
The Thai hostage whose body was recovered on Saturday was named as Nattapong Pinta. He 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 October 7, 2023. Thailand’s foreign ministry said the bodies of two other Thai citizens were yet to be retrieved.
Einav Zangauker holds a poster of her son, Matan, at an earlier protest in February.Credit: AP
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.
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, Judith Weinstein and Gad Haggai, whose bodies were also 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.
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.
Displaced Palestinian women perform Eid prayers near temporary shelters in Gaza City on Friday.Credit: Bloomberg
“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 in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, 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 about 2.3 million relies on aid after widespread destruction of agriculture as well as a recent Israeli blockade that experts say has taken the territory to the brink of famine.
Israel’s army has warned that the aid distribution area is an active combat zone during night-time 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 kilometre from the distribution site.
The hubs are run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial new group of mainly American contractors. Israel wants it to replace a system co-ordinated by the United Nations and aid groups, who have refused to work with GHF, citing humanitarian reasons.
A GHF spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with the group’s rules, said it didn’t feed Gaza residents on Saturday, saying Hamas threats had “made it impossible” to operate in the enclave, which the Palestinian militants denied.
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid under the UN-led system. The UN and aid groups deny there’s significant diversion of aid to militants and say the new system allows Israel to use food as a weapon, violates humanitarian principles and won’t be effective.
The UN says it has been unable to distribute much aid under its system because of Israeli military restrictions on movements and insecurity.
Hamas-led militants killed about 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack on Israel and abducted 251 hostages. Most were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered dozens of bodies.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. The offensive has destroyed large parts of Hamas-run Gaza and displaced about 90 per cent of its population.
AP, Reuters
