October 7 · Personal story
Bipin Joshi
Abducted
October 7, 2023
Abduction location
Kibbutz Alumim
Current outcome
Returned for burial · October 13, 2025
Hamas handed Bipin Joshi’s remains to Israeli authorities on October 13, 2025.
01
Before Israel
Bipin Joshi won a place in an agricultural study programme in Israel through a government competition. He arrived at Kibbutz Alumim only three weeks before October 7; it was his first time outside Nepal. His sister Pushpa called him her best friend: they learned, sang and danced together while their parents worked, and danced in the monsoon rain. The exchange programme put him at a kibbutz near Gaza in a major agricultural area.
02
October 7
Joshi was one of 17 Nepali students studying agriculture in southern Israel. On October 7, 2023, he was in the shelter at Alumim when the attack reached the community. His sister said he tossed a live grenade out of the shelter, saving several people, before he was abducted and taken to Gaza. Four university friends had travelled to Israel with him in September; all four were wounded in the attack but evaded captivity.
03
In captivity
A video shared with the family was thought to have been recorded in November 2023; no day was established. In the 33-second clip, Joshi introduced himself in English, said he was 23 and from Nepal, and described the “Learn and Earn” programme and work on citrus and lemon farms. The family later called the video an anchor of faith. A report in October 2025 said no sign of life had been received since that month; the family had continued to hope.
04
Return
Hamas handed Joshi’s remains to Israeli authorities on October 13, 2025. On October 14, Nepal’s embassy representative visited the forensic medicine centre in Tel Aviv; Nepal’s Foreign Ministry said Israeli authorities had confirmed his death. His remains arrived in Kathmandu on October 20 and continued to the family home in Bhimdattanagar. He was cremated with state honours on the Mahakali riverbank on October 21.
05
After his return
Joshi’s sister travelled by bus for eight hours each way from their western Nepal town to Kathmandu to lobby officials, and had met the prime minister and president several times. His mother and sister visited Israel for the first time after the attack in August 2025. Four classmates who had come with him and the president of his agricultural college were there to welcome them. At Kathmandu airport, Nepal’s prime minister draped the national flag over his coffin.