The remains of Thai national Sonthaya Oakkharasri, 30, were returned to Israel after more than 740 days in captivity, Israeli officials confirmed on Sunday. Oakkharasri was murdered by Hamas in Kibbutz Be’eri during the October 7 massacre, and his body was taken into the Gaza Strip, where terrorists held it for over two years.
In May of last year, Oakkharasri’s family received official confirmation of his death.
For eight years, Oakkharasri was an agricultural employee for kibbutzim across Israel. He had worked in the North before settling in Be’eri, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Oakkharasri's plans for his future
Oakkharasri dreamed of returning to his hometown in Thailand and building a farm there, drawing from what he had learned while working in the kibbutzim.
The forum described Oakkharasri as a “quiet man who was focused on his work,” adding that he kept in daily contact with his mother, Amoran, and his seven-year-old daughter, Kaimok, from Israel.
Oakkharasri’s employment in Israel was set to conclude in October of 2023 – the very same month he was murdered by Hamas. Per the forum, he had already begun planning his life back in Thailand.
In May 2024, the Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv received confirmation from the Foreign Ministry of the death of two Thai captives – Oakkharasri and 43-year-old Sudthisak Rinthalak – who were both believed to have been killed on October 7 in Kibbutz Be’eri.
Families of hostages and released captives expressed their condolences to the slain hostage’s family back in Thailand.
“Alongside the grief and the understanding that their hearts will never be whole again, Sonthaya’s return brings some measure of solace to a family that has lived in unbearable uncertainty and doubt for over two years,” they said in their statement.