Bipin Joshi Age, Death, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Bipin Joshi

• Bipin Joshi was the first member of his family to go abroad for work and study.

• In 2023, at the age of 22, he went to Israel under the country’s Learn and Earn Programme. He joined as an agriculture student working at Kibbutz Alumim, near the border with Gaza.

• He and 16 other Nepali students were part of the same programme, working in orange and lemon farms. Bipin often wrote poems and rap lyrics.

• Days before his abduction, he wrote a poem for his mother that said, “Mother, your little child has grown so tall. Yet still I run to your arms when I fall.’

• He also wrote songs about the struggles of Nepali farmers and planned to return home to start a commercial banana or walnut plantation after finishing his training.

• On the morning of 7 October 2023, Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel. They killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages from 13 countries, including Bipin.

• He was abducted from Kibbutz Alumim. According to survivors, when two grenades were thrown into a shelter where Nepali students were hiding, Bipin acted bravely.

• He picked up one grenade and threw it back, saving around 17 people, including six farm workers. The second grenade exploded, injuring several of his friends.

• Afterward, Hamas gunmen returned, stormed the kitchen, and captured Bipin and three Thai workers. Later, Israel confirmed that Bipin was taken alive to Gaza.

• A proof-of-life video was released in the first month of his captivity, showing him saying, “It’s me, Bipin Joshi. I’m from Nepal. I’m a student. I work on an agricultural farm.”

• His phone was tracked to Gaza, and reports said he had been treated in a local hospital. Weeks after the attack, Israeli security footage from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza showed a young man being brought in by militants around 11 a.m. on 7 October.

• His friends identified him as Bipin from his blue T-shirt, dark shorts, and striped sandals, the same outfit he wore that day.

• Nepal’s government, which had little experience handling international hostage cases, struggled to gather information. The then foreign minister even asked journalists how to contact the Red Cross.

• The Nepali government coordinated with Israel, Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, but made no progress. In November 2023, protests broke out in Nepal, with students and friends carrying placards saying “Wake up Nepal” government” and “Save Bipin Joshi.”

• Bipin’s parents continued to campaign for his release, joining “Bring Back Bipin” marches inspired by Israel’s Hostage Square vigils.

• By August 2025, Padma and her daughter Pushpa travelled to Israel. They met families of other hostages at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv and held talks with President Isaac Herzog.

• The Israeli Defence Forces privately informed officials that Bipin was likely dead, but Padma refused to believe it. She continued to meet leaders in Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, hoping for news.

• In September 2025, Hamas published a press release showing Bipin’s photo among 48 hostages, calling it “a farewell photo.”

• However, on 26th September 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu read a list of 20 surviving hostages at the United Nations, and Bipin’s name was not included.

• By October 2025, after 734 days in captivity, a peace deal was reached. On 13th October 2025, Hamas handed over the bodies of four hostages to Israel as part of a ceasefire deal brokered by Donald Trump.

• Bipin Joshi’s body was among them. The Israel Defence Forces confirmed that Bipin had been “murdered in captivity.” His remains were to be sent to Nepal for final rites.

• Israel’s military called him a “Nepali hero who saved several lives during the October 7 Hamas attack.” Padma and Mahanand Joshi were informed of his death through a virtual meeting with Israeli officials.

• At that moment, 20 surviving hostages were being welcomed home in Israel, but Bipin was not among them.

• His mother, who had spent two years campaigning across countries for his return, received a black bag containing his belongings.