(12 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kathmandu, Nepal – 12 June 2025
1. Pushpa Joshi (left) sister of Nepali man Bipin Joshi held hostage by Hamas, with her cousin Basudev Joshi in Kathmandu
2. The two entering a building
3. Joshi and her cousin seated for an interview
4. SOUNDBITE (English/Nepali) Pushpa Joshi, sister of Nepali man Bipin Joshi held hostage by Hamas:
"It is my humble request to the head of Hamas. Bipin Joshi is an innocent agriculture student. He is a student who has a long life ahead of him. He is just 25 years old now."
5. Closer shot of Joshi holding phone
6. SOUNDBITE (English/Nepali) Pushpa Joshi, sister of Nepali man Bipin Joshi held hostage by Hamas:
"He is alive and we believe from the bottom of our hearts that he for sure is going to come back safe and sound. We have big hopes that he will be back."
7. Mid of Joshi’s hands
8. SOUNDBITE (English/Nepali) Pushpa Joshi, sister of Nepali man Bipin Joshi held hostage by Hamas:
"The news is always on all day at our house, from the morning to the evening. My mom and dad are always looking at the news about the release (of hostages) and developments in Israel, hoping that we would finally get the good news about the release of my brother. We are all eagerly waiting for that news.”
9. Joshi taking phone out of her handbag
10. Joshi using her phone
11. Joshi showing photo of her and her brother on her mobile phone
STORYLINE:
The family of a Nepali man taken captive by the Palestinian militant group Hamas appealed Thursday to his captors for his release, stressing that he has no involvement in the conflict in Gaza.
Bipin Joshi, now 25, was among 17 Nepali students studying agriculture in southern Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that ignited the war in Gaza.
Joshi had worked hard in a government competition to earn a spot to study in Israel, his 17-year-old sister Pushpa Joshi said Thursday in Kathmandu.
He arrived in southern Israel just three weeks before the attack.
It was his first time out of Nepal.
“Bipin Joshi is an innocent agriculture student,” Pushpa Joshi said. “He is a student who has a long life ahead of him, who is just 25 years now.”
Militants killed 10 of the Nepali students in the attack and injured six.
Joshi saved multiple lives by tossing a live grenade out of the bomb shelter where they were hiding, his sister said, before he was abducted and taken to Gaza.
His family hasn’t had a sign of life from him since Israel obtained security footage from a hospital in Gaza showing Joshi, so they know Joshi was taken alive to Gaza, but have no information about him since then.
Pushpa, who was 15 when her brother was kidnapped, lives with their parents in a town in western Nepal.
She travels eight hours each direction on buses to Kathmandu regularly to lobby officials to secure her brother’s release.
She has met the country’s prime minister and president several times.
Nepal’s government says it has repeatedly sought help from Qatari and Egyptian officials to get Joshi freed.
“He is alive and we believe from the bottom of our hearts that he for sure is going to come back all safe and sound,” Pushpa said. “We have big hopes that he will be back.”
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in the Oct. 7 attack.
They are still holding 53 hostages, around 20 them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed “doubts” about whether several hostages are still alive.
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