Aanand Sah, 25: Nepali student was his family’s hope for the future
Murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Alumim on October 7
Aanand Sah, 25, an agricultural student from the Sapahi village in the Dhanusha district of Nepal, was murdered by Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Alumim on October 7.
Aanand was with a group of Nepalese students who had arrived just a few weeks earlier as part of a “Learn and Earn” program, in which they learned about agriculture in Israel and also worked to earn money.
When the air raid sirens began, they ran together to a nearby shelter. Around 8 a.m. they heard voices outside and thinking it was Israelis, two of them headed out and were shot dead by Hamas terrorists, according to Human Rights Watch.
The terrorists then threw two grenades in the shelter, which wounded many, including Aanand. Israelis from the kibbutz arrived and told those who were injured to stay put and they would call them an ambulance, and got those who were uninjured to hide elsewhere with a group of Thai laborers.
Amid the chaos of the attack, an ambulance was never able to arrive and Aanand died of his wounds.
Aanand’s body was flown home to Nepal on November 4, 2023, and he was laid to rest in a cremation ceremony later that day. He is survived by his parents, Soman and Shuvakala, and his three younger sisters, Sunita, Saraswati and Aarati.
According to a local news site, Aanand completed high school at Angels Boarding School in Janakpurdham and pursued a B.Sc in Agriculture on a full scholarship at Far West Agricultural University.
He had arrived in Israel in September 2023, just a few weeks before the attack, with a group of 50 Nepalese students who were part of the 10-month training program. Ten Nepali citizens were killed in the attack and one was taken hostage.
On September 13, 2023, Aanand shared a post on Facebook from the Israeli Embassy about the group’s departure, writing: “Thank you Israel.”
An online news site described Aanand as a nature lover who dreamed of one day planting 10 million trees and giving back to his community.
According to a Nepali news site, Aanand was the oldest of his four siblings, the only son and “his family’s only support.”
“Where did you go? Why don’t you come back? Who is going to look after us?” his parents said, according to the site.
The family’s neighbor Mithilesh Sah, told the site that “his father and mother had high hopes for him,” with his father working for a decade in the Persian Gulf so that Aanand could go to school.
“His parents had sacrificed a lot to educate him,” Mithilesh said. “One can only imagine what they must be going through after their son’s tragic death.”
