Nepalese Student Held by Hamas Confirmed Dead Amid Gaza Peace Progress

As the Trump-led Middle East peace summit marked a major breakthrough with Hamas releasing 20 hostages, a heartbreaking revelation surfaced from Israel. The body of Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese Hindu student abducted by Hamas during the October 2023 attacks, has been recovered, ending a two-year wait filled with uncertainty and hope.

Nepal’s Ambassador to Israel confirmed that Joshi’s remains were handed over by Hamas to Israeli authorities and are now being taken to Tel Aviv. Israeli officials verified that four hostages’ bodies, including Joshi’s, were returned. DNA testing will be completed before the remains are repatriated to Nepal, though the final rites are expected to be performed in Israel with the support of the Nepali embassy.

Joshi’s story began as one of ambition and promise. In September 2023, he joined 16 students from Nepal for an agricultural internship at Kibbutz Alumim, near the Gaza border. The program aimed to teach modern Israeli farming techniques and give participants valuable field experience. But on October 7, 2023, their learning trip turned into a nightmare when Hamas launched a large-scale assault on southern Israel.

During the attack, Joshi and his fellow students sought shelter as explosions and gunfire erupted nearby. According to survivors, when grenades were thrown into the shelter, Joshi displayed immense bravery he managed to throw one grenade out before it detonated, saving several of his friends. Moments later, he was captured by Hamas fighters and taken into Gaza.

For months, his family in Nepal and his friends across the world hoped for his safe return. The last known footage of Joshi, reportedly taken at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, showed him being dragged by militants. His disappearance became symbolic of the many foreign nationals caught in the crossfire of the long and brutal Israel-Hamas conflict.

Joshi, who would have turned 25 this month, is now being remembered as a symbol of courage and sacrifice. His death has cast a shadow over what had been hailed as a positive turn in the region’s peace process.

Even as negotiators celebrated signs of progress in Gaza, Joshi’s fate served as a somber reminder of the deep human toll that conflict continues to exact across the Middle East a story of hope, heroism, and heartbreaking loss.