Narayan Prasad Neupane, 26: Nepali hoped to bring Israeli hi-tech home

Narayan Prasad Neupane, 26, an agricultural intern from Ghodaghodi in the Sudurpashchim Province of Nepal, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Alumim on October 7.

Narayan was among a group of Nepali students from Far Western University in Israel on a “learn and earn” program, where they would study agriculture at different sites around Israel while also earning money to send back home.

The group had only arrived in Israel just a few weeks before the attack.

Ten Nepali students were murdered alongside 12 Thai workers when Hamas gunmen attacked their living quarters just outside Kibbutz Alumim. One Nepali citizen, Bipin Joshi, was abducted and is believed to still be held captive in Gaza.

KC Pramod, who survived the attack, told the Guardian that he watched as two of his friends were shot dead in front of him.

“We started shouting, ‘We are Nepali, we are Nepali,’ but they didn’t listen to anyone, they just kept firing and threw two grenades into the bunker,” Pramod told the newspaper. “After that, the bunker was completely covered in blood.”

Narayan’s body was returned to Nepal for burial on October 21. He is survived by his father, Hari Krishna, and his brother and sister. His mother died when he was 5 years old.

Narayan’s aunt, Durga Neupane, told AFP before his funeral that “He used to say that he would return home and build a concrete house. Now, even his body is not here.”

According to the Nepali Times, Narayan was a good student, and his older brother was working in India so that the family could afford to send him to a good college.

His sister, Manju, was quoted as saying, “He used to say he wanted to contribute to Nepal’s progress by bringing new farming skills from Israel. He was very passionate about agriculture. We want to see him one last time, that is all we want from the government.”

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