Prime Minister Sushila Karki and ministers paid respects to Joshi, who was killed in Hamas captivity, before the body was flown to his hometown Mahendranagar for cremation.
The body of Bipin Joshi, a 24-year-old agriculture student from Kanchanpur who was killed while in Hamas captivity, arrived in Kathmandu on Monday.
Prime Minister Sushila Karki, and other ministers paid their final tributes to Joshi at Tribhuvan International Airport. Following the ceremony, the Nepali Army prepared to fly his body to Mahendranagar for cremation.
Joshi was abducted by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Alumim, a farming settlement in southern Israel near the Gaza border. A month later, the Israeli army found a video showing him alive in captivity.
As part of the first phase of the Middle East peace plan proposed by the United States to end the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, an agreement was reached to exchange hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Hamas handed over Joshi’s body last Monday. The National Centre of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv confirmed his identity through DNA testing.
According to a letter received by his family, Joshi died from a gunshot wound to the head. However, the exact time, place, and circumstances of his death have not yet been independently verified. Hamas claims he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, while Israel accuses Hamas of murdering him. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier this month said “Bipin was abducted at the age of 23 from a shelter in Kibbutz Alumim by Hamas. It is assessed that he was murdered in captivity during the first months of the war.”
Hom Karki is a reporter with two decades experience covering migrant workers issues and the Nepali diaspora. He was previously based in the Gulf for Kantipur Daily.
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