The family of Nepali national Bipin Joshi, who was taken into Hamas captivity on October 7, 2023, expressed their grief over his death after his body was returned to Israel from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
“With immense pain, we received today the most devastating news,” the family wrote, in a statement issued through Israel’s Hostages and Missing Families Forum. They thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and the governments of Israel and Nepal for returning the body of their son to them.
“Our dear son, Bipin, the brother and soul companion of our daughter Pushpa, was murdered in Hamas captivity. The ground has fallen beneath our feet; words cannot describe the void left within us – a void that first opened two years ago and has now deepened forever,” they wrote.
Haaretz WeeklyHow the Gaza war changed a generation of young Jews around the world, in their own words
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Haaretz Weekly
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During the October 7 attack, when Hamas terrorists approached the dorms where he and fellow Nepali students were staying on the kibbutz, two had shouted out in English, “We are Nepali.” The terrorists opened fire on the students and threw grenades at them.
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Bipin Joshi.
Bipin Joshi.
Joshi threw the grenade back toward the terrorists. Another grenade then injured five students. Previously released footage from that day showed him walking inside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
In their statement, the family disclosed that they did not speak of the grenade he threw back on October 7 throughout the past two years, for fear that Joshi would be hurt by his captors.
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“We were so afraid they would discover you were a hero and hurt you; we only prayed you would survive,” they wrote. “Today we can say out loud: Bipin, you are a hero!”
The family also spoke on how only a week ago, they had published a video showing Joshi in Hamas captivity in November, “speaking to the camera, healthy and strong.”
“We held on to that video with faith and hope, believing we would see our beautiful boy smile again and return home,” they said.
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Hostage Bipin Joshi in a Hamas captivity video.
Hostage Bipin Joshi in a Hamas captivity video.
The video was released as part of the family’s efforts to secure the return of Bipin Joshi from captivity. Throughout the war, the IDF did not provide information as to his condition, saying only that there was “serious concern for his life.” In May 2025, an Israeli official reported that there was serious concern for Joshi’s life.
Family members told Haaretz they decided to release the video to prove that Joshi was alive in Gaza, as the last footage of him had been taken on October 7, the day of his abduction, showing him walking inside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
On Tuesday, a friend of Joshi’s, Dhan Bahadur Chaudhary, shared with BBC Nepali that Joshi saved his life on October 7 by tossing back the grenade. “I may not have survived if both grenades had exploded. Bipin showed courage and threw the grenade out.”
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Mourners light candles and offer condolences in Kathmandu on Wednesday, during a candlelight vigil held for Bipin Joshi, a deceased Nepali agricultural student who died while being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas. Credit: Prakash Mathema/AFP
Mourners light candles and offer condolences in Kathmandu on Wednesday, during a candlelight vigil held for Bipin Joshi, a deceased Nepali agricultural student who died while being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas. Credit: Prakash Mathema/AFP
“We made all possible efforts from our side to secure his release. We did everything. But yesterday, we had to face such shocking news. All of Nepal is in grief. I do not know what to say. I have no words to explain my sorrow,” Chaudhary told the BBC.
Bipin Joshi, 24, arrived in Israel from Nepal a month before the Hamas attack to study agriculture and work. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Alumim on the Gaza border.
Joshi’s body was returned on Monday, and confirmed to be him following forensic identification on Tuesday. His body will be brought back to Nepal for burial.
“It is hard to imagine the future without you, Bipin. Every flower in the garden we planted for you will remind us of you, every orchard, every field. You are part of Nepal’s landscape, and now also part of Israel’s,” his family wrote.