Kathmandu, Nepal: When the truce was struck, the household thanked God. Briefly, there was hope that Bipin Joshi may lastly come house.
On Monday night, after two years held by Hamas within the Gaza Strip, he did return – in a coffin delivered to his house within the verdant foothills of far western Nepal.
Kin of Bipin Joshi collect as his physique is returned to Kanchanpur, Nepal, on Tuesday.Credit score: AFP
As thousands and thousands lit candles of their properties to have a good time Tihar, Nepal’s pageant of lights, few did so in his house city, Mahendranagar. Dozens gathered to await his physique. When it arrived, his household broke down in tears, nonetheless in disbelief that he had turn out to be caught in another person’s warfare, hundreds of kilometres away.
Joshi was 23 when he left Nepal for Israel as a part of an agricultural examine program. Lower than three weeks into his time there, he was taken captive by Hamas from a southern Israeli kibbutz on October 7, 2023, in accordance with Israeli officers.
Bipin Joshi’s household believed he was nonetheless alive regardless of nearly no details about his situation. Credit score: AP
After his abduction, his household heard nearly nothing about his situation, however they by no means stopped waging a determined marketing campaign to remind the world of his existence and convey him house. They travelled to Israel and the US in the hunt for somebody who may be capable of assist.
“Tihar is the pageant of lights, however it is going to at all times be a reminder of darkness for us,” mentioned Kishor Joshi, his cousin. “After two years of sleepless nights and battle for his launch, all we obtain at present is his lifeless physique.”
The information of his loss of life has shattered the household, who, till the final second, held religion that he was alive. In interviews with The New York Instances hours after Hamas agreed this month to launch all hostages, and later, when Israel accepted the proposal, Pushpa Joshi, his 18-year-old sister, mentioned she was assured she would see her brother’s “smiling face” once more.
The Israeli authorities had expressed concern about his life; when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, talking on the United Nations, learn an inventory of the names of the remaining hostages believed to be alive, Joshi’s was not amongst them. In statements after his physique was returned by Hamas, the Israeli navy mentioned it believed he had been killed in captivity early within the warfare, which couldn’t be confirmed independently.
