Kathmandu: Status of Bipin Joshi, a Nepali student who was taken hostage by Hamas group for the past two years, is still unknown, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. In this connection, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) held a virtual meeting among Nepali Ambassador to Israel, Joshi’s elder brother, mother, younger sister, officials of Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister’s office at 7.30 am Israeli time this morning to share this information.
According to National News Agency Nepal, the Israeli authorities informed during the meeting that Joshi’s name was not included on the list of hostages to be freed today and his status is still unknown, as stated in a press release issued by Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As part of the first phase of the proposed ‘Middle East Peace Plan’ to cease fire between Israel and Hamas that started on 7 October 2023, an exchange of prisoners was held today.
It was expected that Joshi, who went to Israel under the ‘Learn and Earn’ programme and had been held hostage by Hamas since 7 October 2023, would be on the list of survivors to be released today. In this context, the Government of Nepal has been making diplomatic efforts at various levels for the past two years to ensure his safe release.
The ministry stated that it will continue to provide updates on this matter until the release of all survivors held by Hamas and the handover of the bodies of deceased prisoners is completed.