Slain hostage Bipin Joshi praised for October 7 heroism as his body flown to Nepal

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

Joshi, a 23-year-old agricultural student, deflected a grenade during the attack on October 7, 2023, and saved the lives of a number of people before he was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, 2023, and killed in captivity in Gaza.

He 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.

Residents of Kibbutz Alumim and the Sdot Hanegev Regional Council, Nepalese diplomats, Eynat Shlein, deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry and the head of Mashav, and other senior Foreign Ministry officials attended the airport ceremony.

Gal Hirsch, the government’s point man on hostages, lit a memorial candle for Joshi at the ceremony, and praised the student for his heroic actions on October 7.

“I am sorry. It shouldn’t have ended this way,” Hirsch said.

“Bipin came to Israel to learn, and now we are sending him home, with pain and sadness,” Hirsch said.

“A skilled student, a great person, and especially a hero. He fought and struggled, saved lives during the attack, survived, but in the end was murdered in captivity,” Hirsch said.

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 Foreign Ministry.

Deflected grenade from shelter on Oct. 7

Joshi was a part of a group of Nepali farming students who arrived in Israel only three weeks before the October 7 massacre as part of an academic program to care for orange and lemon orchards.

The students had experienced rockets fired from Gaza in the weeks after their arrival, but realized that morning that they were experiencing a different kind of attack. Even so, they were calm at first, taking selfies in the safe room that they even uploaded to Facebook with the caption, “Bunker Time.”

When the terrorists entered the shelter, they shot and killed two of the students. They then threw two grenades into the space. Joshi tossed one of the grenades away, but the other exploded, injuring several people in the room.

At that point, some of the Thai workers and Nepali students fled to other hiding places, while Joshi and several others tried to rescue those who were wounded.

He also sent messages to his cousin in English, writing, “If something happens to me, you have to take care of my family. Be strong and always see the future.”

Another terrorist then ordered Joshi and three Thai workers to walk out the door. One Nepali who was hiding heard one of the Thai workers saying, “Thailand, Thailand.”

They also heard the terrorist shouting, “Run, run.”

Earlier this month, Joshi’s family published a video filmed in Hamas tunnels shortly after October 7 in which Joshi could be seen speaking to the camera.

No sign of life was received from Joshi since that video.

In May, Israel said his fate was unknown, but the family had held out hope that he was still alive until his body was returned last week as part of a ceasefire-hostage release deal reached between Israel and Hamas.