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By Pesach Benson • November 6, 2025

Jerusalem, 6 November, 2025 (TPS-IL) — The body of Tanzanian student Joshua Luito Mollel was formally identified on Thursday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced.

Mollel, 21, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack.

“The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Mollel family and all the families of the fallen hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said.

Mollel, the oldest of five children, had arrived in Israel in September 2023 to participate in an agricultural training program organized by the Foreign Ministry. He had completed a diploma in agricultural studies in Morogoro, eastern Tanzania, and came to Israel to gain practical experience at the Kibbutz Nahal Oz dairy farm.

He hoped to open his own agricultural business.

Thirteen students from Africa and Asia participating in the same program were killed during the October 7 attack, while four others were wounded. Fellow Nepalese student Bipin Joshi was taken hostage and killed in captivity.

Around 1,200 people were killed and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. The bodies of four Israelis and one foreign national are still held in Gaza.

Jerusalem, 19 october, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s Foreign Ministry held a farewell ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport for 23-year-old Nepali agricultural student Bipin Joshi, whose body was returned from Hamas captivity and will be repatriated to Nepal today.

Joshi was taken hostage from Kibbutz Alumim during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and killed in Gaza. He had come to Israel as part of an international agricultural training program under Mashav, the Foreign Ministry’s development agency.

Speaking at the ceremony, Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch, coordinator of POWs and missing persons, said, “It wasn’t supposed to end like this. You are one of us, every Israeli knows your name and your story, and today you are part of Israeli memory.”

Jerusalem, 14 October, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Following the completion of the identification process by the forensic institute, the IDF spokesperson announced today that Guy Iluz, Bipin Joshi and two other dead hostage had been identified.

The names of the two others have not yet been cleared for publication.

Regarding Guy Iluz, who was 26 years old when he died, the following statement was made: ‘According to information and intelligence at our disposal, he was wounded and taken captive alive after escaping from the Nova music festival to the Tel Gama area. Guy died from his wounds after not receiving proper medical treatment in captivity.’

Regarding Bipin Joshi, the statement adds: ‘According to information and intelligence at our disposal, Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese citizen, was kidnapped at the age of 23 from a shelter in Kibbutz Alumim. The assessment is that he was murdered in captivity during the first months of the war’. It was also stated that ‘the final conclusions will be formulated after completing the examination of the circumstances of death.’

Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar met today (Monday, 18 August 2025) with the family of hostage Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese citizen. Bipin Joshi was kidnapped on October 7th by Hamas terrorists.

Joshi is an agriculture student who studied in Israel and was brutally kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Alumim. Since November 2023, no sign of life has been received and there is serious concern for his life.

His family’s visit to Israel was organized through a joint effort by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hostages Directorate in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Coordinator of Hostages and Missing Persons and the National Insurance Institute.

The meeting was attended by Padma and Pushpa Joshi, Bipin’s mother and sister, as well as Nepal’s Ambassador to Israel Dhan Prasad Pandit.

Previously, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar held several talks with Nepal’s Foreign Minister Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba to coordinate diplomatic activity on the issue of the hostage Bipin Joshi.

FM Sa’ar expressed Israel’s deep commitment to returning all of the hostages, including those who are not Israeli citizens, such as Bipin Joshi.
 

The Prime Minister’s Office, this morning (Thursday, 6 November 2025) [translated from Hebrew]:

Following the completion of the identification process by the National Center of Forensic Medicine, in cooperation with the Israel Police and the IDF Rabbinate, IDF and Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives informed the family of fallen hostage joshua Loitu Mollel, a student from Tanzania, who was taken hostage to the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023, that their loved one has been returned to Israel and that his identification has been completed.

The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Mollel family and all the families of the fallen hostages.

The Government and the entire establishment for the missing and the captives of the State of Israel are determined, committed, and working tirelessly to return all of our fallen hostages for proper burial in their country.

The Hamas terrorist organization is required to uphold its commitments to the mediators and return the fallen hostages as part of the implementation of the agreement. We will not compromise on this and will spare no effort until we return all of the fallen hostages, every last one of them.

May his memory be for a blessing.