Family pleads for the release of a Nepali student abducted by Hamas

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The family of a Nepali man taken captive by the Palestinian militant group Hamas appealed Thursday to his captors for his release, stressing that he has no involvement in the conflict in Gaza.

Bipin Joshi, now 25, was among 17 Nepali students studying agriculture in southern Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that ignited the war in Gaza.

Joshi had worked hard in a government competition to earn a spot to study in Israel, his 17-year-old sister Pushpa Joshi said Thursday in Kathmandu. He arrived in southern Israel just three weeks before the attack. It was his first time out of Nepal.

"Bipin Joshi is an innocent agriculture student," Pushpa Joshi said. "He is a student who has a long life ahead of him, who is just 25 years now."

Militants killed 10 of the Nepali students in the attack and injured six. Joshi saved multiple lives by tossing a live grenade out of the bomb shelter where they were hiding, his sister said, before he was abducted and taken to Gaza.

His family hasn’t had a sign of life from him since Israel obtained security footage from a hospital in Gaza showing Joshi, so they know Joshi was taken alive to Gaza, but have no information about him since then.

Pushpa, who was 15 when her brother was kidnapped, lives with their parents in a town in western Nepal. She travels eight hours each direction on buses to Kathmandu regularly to lobby officials to secure her brother’s release. She has met the country’s prime minister and president several times.

Nepal’s government says it has repeatedly sought help from Qatari and Egyptian officials to get Joshi freed.

"He is alive and we believe from the bottom of our hearts that he for sure is going to come back all safe and sound," Pushpa said. "We have big hopes that he will be back."

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack. They are still holding 53 hostages, around 20 them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages from Gaza and recovered dozens of bodies, including five over the past week.

In the ensuing conflict, more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed "doubts" about whether several hostages are still alive. None of the previously released hostages have seen Bipin Joshi recently during their captivity.

His parents are constantly monitoring news about the Gaza conflict, and get their hopes up whenever they see signs of a hostage release. "News is always on, all day from the morning to night, at our house," Pushpa Joshi said.

They also are in contact with families of other Nepalis who were killed or injured in the attack, though Joshi is the only Nepali hostage.

Pushpa said her brother is her best friend, and that they would often learn, sing and dance together while their parents were at work.

"In rainy season like now, we used to get wet in the rain and dance," she said.

He studied diligently to earn the scholarship to study agriculture in Israel, she said. The exchange program at Kibbutz Alumim was close to the Gaza border in a major agricultural area.

Nepalese go to Israel for both education and employment, to learn the country’s advanced agricultural techniques. Agriculture is the backbone of Nepal’s economy, and the primary source of income for more than 60% of the population.