Bipin Joshi, Nepali hero claimed dead, among deceased hostages returned in Hamas list
Bipin Joshi, a Nepali national kidnapped just weeks after arriving in Israel for a work program, is among the four deceased hostages returned by Hamas on Monday.
Bipin Joshi, a Nepali national who arrived in Israel in an agricultural educational work program just three weeks before his kidnapping, has been published in Hamas’ list of the four bodies of hostages set to return to Israel on Monday night, hours after the release of the remaining 20 living hostages.
Coming to Israel was Joshi’s first experience leaving home. Coming in September 2023 for the Learn and Earn Program, the then 24-year-old spent his days working in citrus fields on Kibbutz Alumim. He was lauded by survivors as a hero, saving the lives of several other foreign workers. Ten Nepalis were killed, five were wounded, and one escaped unscathed.
On Sunday night, Nepal’s Ambassador to Israel Dhan Prasad Pandit told The Post in a phone call that despite the hostage return being scheduled for the next day, his embassy had received no new information, leaving them in the dark about not only what to expect the next day, but without any potential news to share moving forward.
Bipin’s fate confirmed
Still, in the hours that followed the release of the remaining living hostages, Bipin’s fate was confirmed by a Hamas-published list of deceased hostages to be returned to Israel.
NGOs working with migrant workers have declined to comment until confirmation is received by official forensic testing.
Women react standing next to a poster with the picture of a hostage, Nepalese student Bipin Joshi, at ”Hostages Square” on the day Hamas releases Israeli hostages, who have been held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, as part of a prisoner-hostage swap and a ceasefire deal bet (credit: Shir Torem/Reuters)
IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Deffrin confirmed on Monday afternoon earlier rumors that only four deceased hostages would be returned by Hamas on Monday evening.
Hamas later named the hostages as Guy Illouz, Yossi Sharabi, Bipin Joshi, and Daniel Peretz.
In response, the Hostage Families Forum called for an immediate suspension of Israel’s agreement with Hamas until every deceased hostage was returned.
Hamas initially agreed to release all hostages, living and alive, by Monday.
“Hamas’s violation of the agreement must be met with a very serious response from the government and the mediators,” a statement from the forum reads.
This is a developing story.
