The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said that more time would be needed to bring back the bodies of the victims who lost their lives in the armed attacks by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel on Saturday.

During a press meet, Joint Secretary Sewa Lamsal, also the spokesperson of the ministry, said that the Israeli government was yet to hand over the bodies of the victims, causing a delay.

Earlier in the day, the government had decided to send a Nepal Airlines aircraft to rescue those stranded in the war-torn nation. However, the repatriation of the bodies may take a few more days since the paperwork is yet to be completed, Lamsal added.

“The bodies will not be brought on this trip. There is a protocol. The bodies will only be flown back after the Israeli government hands them over,” Lamsal told the journalists. “We have not been able to press on maintaining the regular postmortem protocol since Israel is in a state of emergency. We have requested them, but there is no situation to press them on that issue.”

The postmortem process has been delayed as the casualties caused are in a large number, the ministry said.

Two other Nepali students, who had been injured in Saturday’s attack, have been discharged from the hospital, Lamsal added. “As per the information that we have received, two students have been discharged from the hospital.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister NP Saud is scheduled to fly to Israel to facilitate the rescue mission of the students stranded in Israel.

A Cabinet meeting made the decision to send a rescue team led by Saud, to lead the rescue process of those injured, stranded in danger zones, and fellow Nepali citizens, said Ramesh Rijal, minister for industry, commerce and supplies.

“The bodies of the victims will be brought back once the legal process has been completed,” Rijal added.

Lamsal further informed that all mechanisms have been mobilised to search for Mahendranagar-local Bipin Joshi, who has been out of contact since the attack.

A surprise attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday left 10 Nepali students, who had reached the West Asian country under the ‘Learn and Earn Programme’, dead and four others injured. One Nepali student is still missing following the attack, according to the Nepali Embassy in Israel.

Those who died in the attacks were students of agriculture from Sudur Paschim University.

On Sunday afternoon, informing the House of Representatives about the situation of Nepalis in Israel, Minister for Foreign Affairs Saud had said out of 17 Nepali students in Kibbutz Alumim, the area near the Gaza Strip, 12 were missing and some were “feared dead.”

It is the highest number of Nepali casualties on foreign soil in militant attacks since 2016, when 14 Nepalis were killed in a suicide attack by Taliban in Afghanistan.

Different media outlets reported that Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented surprise dawn attack.

The attack is the biggest operation Hamas has ever launched from Gaza and the most serious cross-border attack Israel has faced in more than a generation, the BBC said. Palestinian fighters penetrated at least three military installations around the frontier—the Beit Hanoun border crossing (called Erez by Israel), the Zikim base, and the Gaza division headquarters at Reimm, according to the BBC.