Sawt Falasteen - Nepal welcomes Gaza ceasefire deal, calls for citizen's release

"We call for the immediate release of all hostages, including Nepali national Bipin Joshi," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We urge all parties concerned to implement the plan in its true spirit, to ensure the smooth flow of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and to pave the way for lasting peace."

Joshi, an agriculture student who was 22 when kidnapped, had arrived in Israel just weeks before the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, during which Palestinian militants took 251 hostages to Gaza.

He was taken from a kibbutz in southern Israel, where 10 Nepali nationals were killed.

Joshi was reported to have saved his friends by throwing a grenade back at the assailants storming the community, according to a survivor.

His cousin, Kishor Joshi, said the family were desperate for news.

"It has been a long wait, but that doesn't matter if we now get the good news of his release," he said.

The family's only sign of life from Joshi was a short video clip, believed to have been filmed in November 2023, and later recovered by the Israeli military.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not mention Joshi when he read out the names of 20 hostages still believed alive during his September UN speech.

But in Nepal, the hostage's father Mahananda Joshi told AFP the ceasefire had rekindled hope.

"We have not been able to eat or work or sleep in worry," he said in Nepal. "By God's grace, we will now bring him back to Nepal and welcome him home."

Nepal's foreign ministry spokesman Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri told AFP the government had been "advocating for his release", adding they were "hoping for his safety and release, and then to bring him back".

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST