For the first time, a representative of Nepalese hostage Bipin Joshi will reportedly join a delegation to London of the main Israeli organization lobbying for the release of hostages held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Adi Radai, an Israeli activist on behalf of the hostages who has taken it upon herself to speak up for Joshi, will join the Hostages and Missing Families Forum for an event later this week, Haaretz reported Tuesday.
The Joshi family is seeking to raise international awareness of Bipin’s plight by traveling beyond the borders of their homeland. With speculation swirling that a ceasefire and hostage release deal could be in the offing, the family aims to campaign for Bipin to be included on the list of those who would reportedly be set free in the deal.
Joshi, 24, a farming student from Nepal, was abducted by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Alumim on October 7, when they attacked the kibbutz as part of a vicious assault on the Gaza border communities. There has been no information about him since that day.
Radai, who had no previous connection to the Joshi family, told Haaretz she feels a “great responsibility that I cannot refuse. To mediate between two worlds that are so different.”
“I feel that also for them [the family] something has changed. Despite the great difficulty, they are trying to come to terms with the fact that in order for Bipin’s name to be on the list, they need to be active,” she said of Joshi’s family in Nepal, far from the epicenter of the hostage issue and without significant support from their own authorities.
“Behind the scenes, many people are active and all of them have the same aim — to help the family bring Bipin home,” she said.
In addition, Joshi family members are planning to travel to the United States, though they currently don’t have passports, the report said.
“My parents have never left the country and they are afraid,” said Bipin’s sister Pushpa Joshi. “Everyone knows that the US is the most powerful country. Perhaps if I go there, they will help us.”
“Nothing can replace the voice of his mother,” Radai said. “Nothing will make an impact like hearing his sister speak.”
The family is now working on obtaining passports, the report said, with representatives also hoping to travel to Japan to raise awareness.
According to the report, the family keeps up to date on developments via Israeli and Indian news outlets, as local media does not dedicate much coverage to the Middle East.
The family has met a number of times with Nepalese President Ramchandra Paudel and diplomats who routinely assure them that “everything is being done” to bring Bipin home, the report said.
Pushpa said the family expects her government to pressure mediating countries Qatar and Egypt to make use of their ties to Hamas on behalf of Joshi while lamenting that her government “doesn’t give enough priority to this affair.”
The last time that Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli mentioned the matter on his official X account was in March, two days after the collapse of a ceasefire that had lasted several weeks. The ceasefire saw the release of dozens of hostages, and at the time, Sharma spoke with the presidents of Turkey and Egypt about Joshi. A month later, Nepal’s foreign minister met with his Iranian counterpart, and before that, the top envoy spoke with President Isaac Herzog.
The Joshi family has also asked the Thai government for assistance, and, according to Haaretz, Israeli officials have been pressing the Nepal and Thai governments to lobby mediators about Joshi, though the efforts have not led to any reliable information about the captive.
In a May interview with the Ynet news outlet, Pushpa also urged, “Please don’t forget my brother.”
With US President Donald Trump reportedly pushing for a ceasefire deal to be reached by the end of the week, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington for talks, speculation has swelled that an agreement is coming.
The US president hosted Netanyahu for dinner on Monday evening, with Gaza at the top of the agenda along with other regional issues.
The US coordinated closely with Israel last week before sending a ceasefire proposal to Hamas for its approval.
The terror group said over the weekend that it responded positively to the offer while submitting three reservations that Netanyahu subsequently asserted were unacceptable.
The deal on the table would secure the release of half of the 20 remaining living hostages, with eight freed on the first day and two released on the 50th day, according to an Arab diplomat from one of the mediating countries, Qatar and Egypt.
Roughly half of the slain hostages’ bodies would also be released, with five being transferred on the seventh day, five more on the 30th day, and eight more on the 60th day.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Since then, 140 hostages have been freed by Hamas, mostly during the two ceasefires. In addition, Hamas released the bodies of eight hostages, and the IDF rescued eight hostages alive and recovered the bodies of 49 others from the Strip.