Nepal’s interim Prime Minister, Sushila Karki, on Monday draped the national flag over the coffin of Bipin Joshi, a Nepali student taken hostage during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and later confirmed dead.
“Bipin is a son of all Nepali mothers,” Karki said at a solemn ceremony at Kathmandu airport. “His name will be immortal, no one can forget his bravery and the hardships he endured.”
Joshi, 22, was studying agriculture in Israel and had arrived just weeks before the attack. He was abducted from a kibbutz in southern Israel where 10 Nepali nationals were killed. According to a survivor, he heroically tried to protect others by throwing a grenade back at the attackers.
For nearly two years, Joshi’s family held onto hope after a short video clip surfaced in November 2023, showing he might be alive. However, on October 14, 2025, Israel officially confirmed his death, according to Nepal’s foreign ministry.
His remains will now be transported to his hometown in Kanchanpur, southwestern Nepal.
Israel paid tribute to Joshi on social media, calling him “an innocent life, full of promise, stolen too soon.”
