A meeting of the council of ministers held on Monday condoled the brutal killing of 10 Nepali students studying in Israel's universities on Friday by Hamas militants, and wished for the speedy recovery of others who sustained injuries in the attacks. Nepal's embassy in Israel said 55 Nepalis were rescued to safer places from the war-torn Gaza Strip, where Hamas militants launched surprise attacks with more than 5,000 rockets on Israel, the deadliest in decades.

The Cabinet also decided to provide Rs 1 million to each of the families whose near and dear ones were killed in the attack. The government has directed its mission in Israel to coordinate with the concerned authorities for the repatriation and medical treatment of the injured Nepali nationals. The government has decided to charter Nepal Airlines and Himalayan Airlines to repatriate those who wish to return home. The Nepali mission in Israel has been authorised to hire a Hebrew-speaking person for three months to assist in the repatriation and rescue of Nepali nationals who have been there under the "Learn and Earn" programme. All the Nepalis in Israel have been told to register their names and addresses online so that they could be repatriated at the earliest.

So far around 200 Nepalis have expressed their desire to return home. Currently, they have been placed in safe transit shelters in coordination with Israeli officials.

Around 4,500 Nepalis are working as caregivers, and 265 students are studying and working there under the Learn and Earn programme. Of them, 119 students from Agriculture University, 97 from Tribhuvan University and 49 from Sudurpaschim University had gone to Israel under the programme, which has beenhighly fruitful in modernising Nepal's sluggish agriculture sector. Those students who survived the Hamas attacks recalled that the militant broke into the bunker, where they were taking shelter, opened fire indiscriminately and also threw grenades at them even when told that they were Nepalis and Thai students.

It will take some time to ascertain the actual number of Nepalis killed or injured in the attack as the Israeli authorities are still struggling to clear the Gaza Strip where the massive attack was lunched.

The Nepali mission in Israel has said all the injured Nepalis are undergoing treatment in Tel Aviv and other hospitals.

As the tragedy has already happened, onus lies on the government to coordinate with the Israeli authorities to repatriate Nepali nationals and dead bodies back home without any procedural delay. The dead bodies must reach their homes so that the family members can perform the funeral rites according to their tradition. The violent conflict between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants is already having its spillover effect on the price of crude oil in the international market as the war has disrupted the supply chain. The Nepali youths, who had been employed in Israel as caregivers and farmers and the students who had gone there for on-the- job training, will be rendered jobless upon their return to Nepal as they will not be able to return to Israel for work immediately.

Nepal will lose remittance worth millions of dollars should the war continue for a long time, a situation Israel has already warned about it.

Advance booking

With Dashain starting from October 15, advance ticket booking for long and medium routes has started. More than 2 million people are expected to leave the Kathmandu Valley for the big festival, which will give the crowded city an empty look for some days. The crowd at the ticket counters at the bus park is said to be bigger this year, with some fearing that they might not be able to leave for their homes, especially if they need to travel long distances to the remote areas. However, they have been assured that everyone will get to travel as no one is left behind during the big festival.

It would have saved the passengers a lot of time if the tickets could be booked online. Although one is assured of a ticket, it means standing in the queue for hours, causing great inconvenience to the passengers.

At times like this, there are always middlemen and fraudsters trying to dupe the innocent customers, which calls for constant vigil. Hundreds of buses will be leaving the valley every day during the Dashain festival, and managing the heavy traffic should be a priority. The government must also see to it that the roads are well maintained so that the passengers reach home safely.

Published on: 12 October 2023 | The Himalayan Times