The government has rescued 18 more Nepalis from war-hit Israel with support from the Indian government.

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, the Embassy of Nepal in Israel stated that among the rescued are four students, 13 workers, and one person on a tourist visa.

They left for New Delhi via the Tel Aviv-based Ben Gurion Airport at 2:55pm local time on an Indian Spicejet flight, the embassy said.

The Nepali Embassy in the Indian capital will then facilitate their travel up to the Gauriphanta border crossing in Kailali district. They will land in the Indian Capital city on Tuesday night and reach Kailali on Wednesday.

Earlier on Friday, the government had repatriated 254 Nepali students from Israel through a special flight of the state-owned Nepal Airlines.

Authorities in Israel have handed over the bodies of five of the 10 Nepali students who were killed in the Hamas attack when they were working at Kibbutz Alumim of Sedot Negev Agriculture Centre in southern Israel on October 7.

Of the four injured in the assault, two are undergoing treatment at a local hospital while the other two have been discharged from the hospital. One of the students discharged from the hospital is receiving care at the embassy while the other has arrived in Nepal.

While the attack spread terror across the country, 17 Nepali students in Kibbutz Alumim, an area near the Gaza Strip, came under direct attack by the militants. According to the embassy, a total of 265 Nepali students were studying in Israel under the ‘Learn and Earn’ programme of the Israeli government at the time.

Published on: 18 October 2023 | The Kathmandu Post