The family of Bipin Joshi, a Nepali agricultural student taken hostage by Hamas, was due on Wednesday to release a video of him that was filmed shortly after he was abducted in the October 7, 2023, attack.
The video, which was recovered by the Israel Defense Forces and shared with the family, is thought to have been filmed in November 2023, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents relatives of most of the remaining 48 hostages.
No sign of life has been received for Joshi since that month. In May, Israel said his fate was unknown, but the family is holding out hope.
The clip, expected to be released shortly before 8 p.m., is about 30 seconds long. The family released a still from the video showing Joshi with a beard and wearing a long-sleeved black and blue shirt.
“This proof of life found in Gaza, which we are sharing with you today, gives us unwavering faith that he is alive,” the family said in a statement.
The planned release of the clip comes amid growing optimism over talks in Egypt on a 20-point plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to end the two-year Gaza war and release the 48 hostages held in the Strip. The plan also calls for Hamas to disarm and give up control of the territory to an international force as Israel withdraws its troops.
Top officials from all sides were at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula, where talks were taking place on Wednesday, in the latest sign that the negotiations were advancing.
Joshi was abducted by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Alumim, where he was studying farming. He was part of a group of Nepali students who had arrived in Israel only three weeks earlier as part of an academic program to care for orange and lemon orchards, according to Ynet.
On the day of the attack, he hid in a safe room and deflected a grenade that terrorists threw in. He remained in the room to help people who had been wounded by another grenade.
During the attack, he sent several messages to his cousin in English, writing, “If something happens to me, you have to take care of my family. Be strong and always see the future.”
In August, Joshi’s mother and sister visited Israel for the first time since the October 7 attack.
“Please, rescue my son,” said his mother, Padma, as she broke down in tears after landing at Ben Gurion Airport. “Hamas, bring [him] back home now. Please, return [him] home, Hamas. Please. Please.”
Waiting at the airport for the family were four friends of Bipin, who studied with him in university in Nepal, came with him to Israel in September 2023, and were wounded during the October 7 attack but managed to evade captivity.
The president of the Israeli college where Bipin studied agriculture also came to welcome his loved ones.
Days later, the family sat at a protest tent outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem. Nepal’s ambassador to Israel, Dhan Prasad Pandit, sat alongside them.
“After we return to Nepal, please don’t forget Bipin Joshi, please keep supporting us, and please raise [your] voice for my brother,” his sister, 17-year-old Pushpa Joshi, told the crowd at the tent. “I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for this support, for giving me strength and hope.”
Pandit added that the Nepali government is still “not sure about the situation and condition of Bipin. This is a really big concern.”
Jessica Steinberg and Charlie Summers contributed to this report.