Ceremony held at airport as body of slain hostage Bipin Joshi flown to Nepal

Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.

Relatives and friends of Nepali national Bipin Joshi, who was taken hostage by Hamas into Gaza, stand next to his coffin during a farewell ceremony before his body is flown to Nepal for burial, at Ben Gurion Airport, Oct. 19, 2025. (AP/Ariel Schalit)
Relatives and friends of Nepali national Bipin Joshi, who was taken hostage by Hamas into Gaza, stand next to his coffin during a farewell ceremony before his body is flown to Nepal for burial, at Ben Gurion Airport, Oct. 19, 2025. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

The Foreign Ministry holds a farewell ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport for slain Nepalese hostage Bipin Joshi, whose body will be repatriated to Nepal today after it was returned from Hamas captivity on Tuesday.

Joshi, a 23-year-old agricultural student, came to Israel as part of an international agricultural training program under Mashav, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, which operates under the Foreign Ministry.

He was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity in Gaza.

Eynat Shlein, deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry and the head of Mashav, is in attendance at the ceremony, according to the ministry.

His family, some of whom visited Israel in recent months to advocate for his release, awaits his coffin’s arrival in Nepal, according to the ministry.

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