Israel has said that Bipin Joshi of Kanchanpur, who went missing after an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in Israel last year, is alive.
The newly appointed Israeli Ambassador to Nepal, Shmulik Arie Bass, has claimed to have received information that Joshi is alive in the Gaza Strip.
“We have received information from sources in the Arab country that Nepali student Bipin Joshi is alive,” Ambassador Bass told reporters in Kathmandu on Thursday. “Bipin is very important to us. He will return to Kathmandu soon.”
He said that the place where Bipin is being kept has not yet been identified.
As many as 49 students studying in the final year of the Faculty of Agriculture Science at Far Western University had reached Israel under the ‘Learning and Earning’ program. Out of them, 10 Nepali students lost their lives in an attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.
On the same day, Bipin was said to have been taken hostage by Hamas from Israel’s Kibbutz Alumim and taken to the Gaza Strip. Out of 251 people, who were taken hostage and whisked to the Gaza Strip, 105 have been released between the two ceasefires. Eight people were rescued by the Israeli army. So far, the bodies of 34 of the hostages have been found in the Gaza Strip.
Ambassador Bass said that 96 people, including Bipin, are still under Hamas control and efforts are being made to release them.
Qatar has been trying to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
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