ALUMIM, Feb 17, 2025 (AFP) - When Gaza militants stormed the Israeli farm he was working on, Nepali agriculture student Bipin Joshi risked his life to save his friends, who fear for his fate after 500 days in captivity.
But unlike some other hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, there has been no information about the 24-year-old since that day.
"He knew nothing about this war, and it's been 16 months that he is captive," said Himanchal Kattel, a close friend who has Joshi to thank for surviving the attack.
"People should talk more about him," said Kattel, also a Nepali agriculture student who was working with Joshi at the farm in Alumin, a kibbutz community near the Gaza border.
Few in Israel remember Joshi's name or recognise the face of one of the five foreign hostages still held in Gaza since the 2023 attack.
In Nepal, his father Mahananda Joshi told AFP the family was extremely worried, waiting "for any news -- anything -- about him".
"So many others have been released but our son remains captive," said the father.
Bipin Joshi had arrived in Israel just two months before the Hamas attack, to work on a farm as part of his studies.
When militants reached Alumim, Kattel recalled, they hurled a grenade into a bunker where a group of Nepali workers were sheltering after hearing warning sirens in the early morning.
Without hesitating, Joshi picked up the grenade and threw it back at the assailants, said Kattel, one of few survivors of the attack on the farm.
Nepali students were our guests, but now they are our family fo...
"He saved our lives. I wouldn't have been alive today" if it wasn't for his swift action, he added.
Twenty-two foreign farm workers, 10 from Nepal and 12 from Thailand, were killed in Alumim before Israeli forces eventually regained control.
- Not seen since attack -
Since a truce in the Israel-Hamas war went into effect nearly a month ago, six groups of Israeli hostages have been released as well as another of Thai captives freed outside the scope of the ceasefire agreement.
More releases are expected, but Joshi's name did not appear on the list of hostages to be freed under the first phase of the truce.
"Perhaps our government's efforts have not been strong enough," said his father.
The Nepalese foreign ministry said that "the prime minister and the foreign minister are engaging with other leaders to request his release."
Kattel said Joshi "taught me a lot of things. He is actually a very spiritual person."
"He is like my brother. More than a friend."
Joshi was seized after the group of farm workers had left the first shelter for a larger one, but that too came under attack.
"They broke the lock, and they came inside and they just shot at us... and they took Bipin," Kattel said.
He showed an AFP correspondent videos of the workers, their faces pale with fear, huddled behind rice sacks in the shelter moments before the shooting.
The last known image of Joshi came from a surveillance camera near a cowshed in Alumim, showing him standing on his feet but held by his captors as they led him toward Gaza.
On that very spot, the kibbutz has placed a Nepali flag and candles in memory of the victims.
Just before the attack, Joshi had taken some photos on his phone, smiling alongside his friends.
- Release 'every hostage' -
The Thai farm workers' residence was completely burned down during the assault, leaving only a single wall standing.
Now known as the "Wall of Remembrance", it serves as a solemn tribute, said kibbutz resident Gad Shparer, who was responsible for the Thai and Nepali workers at the time.
The 45-year-old said the hours he spent locked inside a shelter during the attack were agonising not only for fears that militants would reach him, but also because he had no news from the workers.
Hours later, when he was finally able to venture out, "I thought that they all had died," Shparer said.
He recalled seeing the bodies of the victims and learning that Joshi had been taken.
"When I got to the hospital room, I saw Kattel.. We hugged, and I started crying there."
Shparer spoke of his deep connection to the workers, having toiled alongside them in the fields and orchards.
Since the attack, he has joined weekly rallies demanding the release of hostages.
Out of 251 hostages seized during the Hamas attack, 70 remain in Gaza including 35 the Israeli military has confirmed dead.
Five of the remaining hostages are foreigners. Two including Joshi are thought to be alive.
Kattel, who has remained in Israel after the attack to continue his studies, is waiting for his friend to return.
"I want every hostage to be released, along with Bipin," he said.
