Sister of Nepali hostage visits protest: ‘Please don’t forget Bipin Joshi’

The sister of Hamas-held hostage Bipin Joshi urges Israelis to continue protesting for her brother even after she and her mother return to Nepal following a brief trip to Israel.

“After we return to Nepal, please don’t forget Bipin Joshi, please keep supporting us and please raise [your] voice for my brother,” says 17-year-old Pushpa Joshi, speaking at a hostage families’ protest tent in Jerusalem, near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence.

“I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for this support, for giving me strength and hope,” she tells the crowd.

This is the family’s first time visiting Israel after Joshi, an agriculture student who had been residing in the country, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Alumim during the attack on October 7, 2023.

Speaking at a protest in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square last night, Joshi’s sister implied that the recent videos released of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David — in which the two Hamas hostages appeared emaciated and in dire health — acted as an impetus for their visit.

Also present in the tent today is Nepal’s ambassador to Israel, Dhan Prasad Pandit, who gives a brief speech as Israelis across the country stage mass protests as part of a nationwide strike for a hostage-ceasefire deal.

“We want to see all the 50 hostages released soon, at once,” he says. “They all were kidnapped brutally, and they have to come back to their families safely.”

He adds that the Nepali government is still “not sure about the situation and condition of Bipin. This is a really big concern.”