NONG KHAI – Two years after 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 with Israel. 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 near the border with Laos.

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 the Oct 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.

Hamas militants kidnapped 31 Thai nationals during the Oct 7, 2023 assault. Another 46 Thais were killed on the same day.

Of the 31 Thais taken by Hamas, 23 were released in early 2024, five more were freed in January 2025 and three were confirmed to have died. Sudhisak’s remains were the last to be identified.

The body of Israeli Ran Gvili, the last of the living and deceased hostages to be returned, is still in Gaza.

Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai labourers 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.”