One hiker in serious condition was flown to safety by helicopter.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

About 100 Israeli hikers were rescued Wednesday from a blizzard in Nepal that had left them stranded since the previous day.

Rescue teams from the PassportCard insurance company managed to reach the mountain village of Samudra and brought the large group out on foot to a village at a lower, safer altitude, where there were more resources to help them and more accessible routes that could enable them to leave more easily.

While almost all the hikers were in good condition, one person who was in serious need of medical treatment was evacuated by helicopter.

Yair Lieberman, who was hiking with four friends, told the Kalman-Liberman radio show, “At some point we realized we didn’t understand the way up [the mountain]. There were about 150 travelers stuck in the line. There was panic, the storm was getting stronger, people left their bags behind. It could have ended much worse.”

Another stranded Israeli, Roy Levi, told Ynet Tuesday night that his group was “stuck in a Nepali village at 4,000 meters. There’s more than half a meter of snow, and backpacks are buried. People here are panicking, especially the girls.”

“People nearly died today trying to reach the pass,” he said. “This storm is insane…. Nepali porters abandoned bags along the way and fled without them.”

Some of his fellow travelers, he added, were suffering from altitude sickness or pain as a result of the grueling climb.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Department for Israelis in Distress Abroad said that it had begun receiving inquiries Tuesday from Israelis traveling in the area and from families who reported difficulties contacting loved ones whose routes had been blocked by the accumulation of snow.

The ministry said it was in constant contact with medical and rescue teams in the area, and that none of the hikers were in danger, as they were “in huts rather than open areas.”

The rescue took place in the morning to better ensure the safety of the travelers, the ministry added.

The Israelis’ evacuation was the only one completed in the morning, as the storm was not yet over.

When weather conditions improve, other rescue operations will reportedly commence immediately, with Passportcard saying helicopter evacuations would take place from three villages in the affected Dharmasala region.

Weather reports have noted that a cyclone is predicted for Thursday.

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The country’s main airport is shut amid anti-government protests.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Hundreds of Israelis are stranded in Nepal as anti-government protests have shut down roads and the country’s main airport, Ynet reported Tuesday night.

About 200 Israelis in the capital of Kathmandu have flocked to the small Chabad House to wait out the chaos, centered in the area of Parliament and many government offices.

The movement of hundreds of mountain trekkers has also been restricted because of roadblocks and a nationwide curfew, but tourists say they do not feel endangered.

An Israeli tourist, Gilad, told Ynet, “A lot of Israelis are in the middle of a trek and there is uncertainty, but there is also an amazing bond between Israelis and a good atmosphere overall. A lot of people’s itinerary was screwed up. They wanted to go on a two-day trek and can’t.”

Leaving the country is now difficult, as Tribhuvan International Airport was closed Tuesday until further notice due to the curfew.

Authorities also cited hazardous smoke from fires set at government buildings in Kathmandu, including Parliament, the presidential palace and the prime minister’s official residence, as well as the president’s and prime minister’s private homes.

Tens of thousands of mostly young Nepalese have been rioting for the past few days. The unrest began after the government banned most social media sites for failing to register and agree to official oversight.

The move was widely viewed as censorship and a restriction on free expression.

It especially angered Gen Z, who were already frustrated by 20% unemployment among their age group and widespread perceptions of government corruption, especially as officials’ children are seen enjoying a lavish lifestyle.

On Monday, police opened fire on the crowds, killing 19 and wounding dozens, which fueled larger protests on Tuesday, along with arson and attacks on several ministers.

Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli unsuccessfully tried to calm the situation by rescinding the social media ban, ordering an inquiry into the shootings and promising free medical care for the injured.

Later that day, he and several other ministers resigned, though he remains in a caretaker role as efforts have begun to form a new coalition.

Top officials, including the army chief of staff, who has so far kept his troops in their barracks, have called for quiet and a dialogue with the protesters.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Israelis in Nepal to avoid non-essential travel and follow the instructions of local authorities.

It also advised avoiding Kathmandu in the coming days, staying away from crowded places, demonstrations and protests, and following updates in local media.

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At Hostages Square, Pushpa Joshi, sister of abducted student Bipin Joshi, delivered a heartbreaking plea after 680 days without news of him, urging Israel, Nepal, and the U.S. to secure a deal that will finally bring her brother and all hostages home.


פושפה ג׳ושי, אחות החטוף ביפין ג'ושי: "לקחו לנו 22 חודשים למצוא את הכוחות להגיע לכאן. היינו מבודדים בנפאל. כמעט שנתיים בלי סימן חיים. האם הוא גווע ברעב? פצוע? חי? pic.twitter.com/sJNbXbsedx

— החדשות – N12 (@N12News) August 16, 2025

The post WATCH: Sister of Nepali hostage held in Gaza calls for his release appeared first on World Israel News.

One of the Nepalese foreign students of Alumim, Bipin Joshi, 23, is among the hostages still being held by Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza.

By Canaan Lindor, JNS 

Local media have often referred to the events that transpired here on Oct. 7, 2023, as a “miracle.”

In Alumim, a handful of defenders kept dozens of armed terrorists from reaching their small community’s residential heart, where dozens of children and women were hiding. None of the members of this religious kibbutz perished and it escaped the destruction visited on the neighboring communities of Be’eri, Kfar Aza and Nahal Oz.

Yet a massacre did occur in Alumim.

On the edges of the kibbutz, the terrorists from Gaza murdered 22 out of 24 Thai and Nepalese student workers, whose tragic fates have often been eclipsed.

Last month, an effort was made to commemorate the victims of Alumim, where more foreigners were murdered than anywhere else on Oct. 7.

Dozens of employees of the New Jersey-based financial services firm Cross River Bank visited the kibbutz on Feb. 13, where they and kibbutz members lit candles in memory of the 10 Nepalese and 12 Thai victims of the attack.

Cross River Bank’s CEO Gilles Gade also included Alumim in the itinerary of his delegation, which toured the sites of the Oct. 7 attack in Israel’s south, in recognition of one his employees, Pravesh Jiral, who was born in Nepal before immigrating to the United States.

Jiral lit memorial candles for the victims and shared with his colleagues his feelings and some context on the victims’ life stories.

“Their dreams were cut short in a moment of terror. But today, as we light these candles, we ensure that their light does not go out. Their memory will endure in the hearts of their families, in the spirit of our two nations, and in the commitment we share to peace and resilience,” he said.

The victims of Alumim are often described as foreign workers, but they and other foreign victims could be more accurately called foreign students, said Miriam Marcus, one of the members of Kibbutz Alumim.

A delegation of employees from Cross River Bank visit Kibbutz Alumim, Israel on Feb. 13, 2025. Photo by Canaan Lidor.

“They’re in a program that’s run internationally through universities in Thailand or Nepal, they get credits for their studies here,” she told the Cross River Bank delegation. And while the students “get decent wages, they’re here to get trained in farming and agriculture and then they learn to help make their country better,” she said.

One of the Nepalese foreign students of Alumim, Bipin Joshi, 23, is among the hostages still being held by Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza.

Security camera footage in Alumim provides a detailed record of the terrorists’ attack on the kibbutz.

The terrorists who attacked Alumim crossed the border on motorcycles and encountered some difficulties entering the kibbutz, partly thanks to the rapid response of the defenders.

On the main road outside the kibbutz, a Hamas pickup truck rigged up to a large propane tank was rammed off the road by Israeli troops. It may have been headed into Alumim as an improvised bomb.

Even without it, the terrorists caused immense damage. They burned barns, killed cows and destroyed equipment before arriving at the living quarters of the foreigners on the kibbutz’s edge.

A teenager waves a banner of U.S. President Donald Trump in Kibbutz Alumim, Israel on Feb. 13, 2025. Photo by Canaan Lidor.

There, the terrorists rounded up 22 out of 24 foreigners and gunned them down in a building that they then torched. The two survivors hid from the attackers.

Remarkably, both survivors, Jakkrit Noiphoothorn of Thailand and Birendra Chaudhary of Nepal, returned to Alumim after being airlifted to their home countries. They have a five-year visa and are determined to complete their training program.

Marcus recalled the panicked calls of the Thai students on Oct. 7 to her husband, Stevie, who passed away two months after the attack due to a cardiac arrest. The Israeli Defense Ministry has recognized his death as a result of the Oct. 7 trauma and exhaustion.

Stevie Marcus in Alumum in November 2023. Photo by Canaan Lidor.

“They were calling him, saying ‘Mr. Stevie, what do we do, what do we do?’ but we didn’t know what was going on,” Esther Marcus recalled. She added that it was “incredibly moving that they want to be a part of rehabilitating Alumim, that they feel good here, and it shows the depth of the bonds that are created here.”

Alumim and its regional council held several ceremonies in memory of the foreign victims, that were attended by Thai and Nepalese diplomats and survivors of the onslaught.

The shed and living quarters that the terrorists torched were torn down, but the kibbutz kept one charred wall—the one facing Gaza, whose bombed-out buildings are visible from Alumim. Nepalese and Thai flags hang on that wall, commemorating the tragedy.

In the days immediately after the attack, the structure bore harrowing witness to the terrorists’ brutality. The walls were splattered with blood, including behind a stack of rice sacks the victims had tried to pile up, possibly as a defense from the hand grenades that the terrorists lobbed into structures.

Alumim was among the first evacuated communities to return after the massacre. Undeterred by what had happened there, new foreign students from Nepal and Thailand have moved into Alumim and, together with Chaudhary and Noiphoothorn, are helping to rehabilitate the place.

The newcomers tend to the small vegetable patch and herb garden that their murdered compatriots had planted around their living quarters.

Cross River Bank CEO Gade, a longtime volunteer with Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service, has firsthand knowledge of the efforts to rehabilitate the ravaged Tekuma Region.

In the first six months of the Oct. 7 war, his New Jersey-based firm, which has 170 employees based in Israel, helped procure and ship medical equipment for hospitals, MDA and beyond. The company has also sent almost 100 of its U.S.-based employees to Israel on missions.

“We believe that to combat apathy and ignorance, we want every Cross River employee to be exposed to the atrocities of Oct. 7, and bear witness to Hamas’s evil. We stand alongside our Israeli colleagues, offering support, compassion and strength. These missions are a testament to our unwavering commitment to Israel’s recovery, as we witness firsthand its unbreakable resilience, in spite of the world’s indifference,” Gade told JNS.

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President Herzog lauds Nepalese student studying in Israel who was abducted on October 7th, citing his ‘bravery and courage’ during the terrorist onslaught.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s president spoke with the family of a Nepalese student who was studying in Israel last year when he was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during the invasion of October 7th.

President Isaac Herzog held a Zoom meeting with the family of Bipin Joshi, a 23-year-old agricultural student held in captivity since Gaza terrorists overran Kibbutz Alumim in southwestern Israel, where Joshi had been studying for the three weeks before the October 7th invasion.

Bipin Joshi (Courtesy of the family)

“I was deeply moved to speak on Zoom with the family of Bipin Joshi, a student of agriculture from Nepal who was studying in Israel when he was brutally taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th,” Herzog said Monday evening following the call.

The president noted Joshi’s acts of heroism, saving his companions while risking life and limb.

“Bipin showed great bravery and courage deflecting grenades as the terrorists began their onslaught. I told his family that Israel will continue to do everything in its power to bring Bipin, and all the hostages home to their families – as a matter of supreme importance and priority.”

“The suffering of the Bipin’s family and friends – from the other side of the world – is yet another proof of Hamas’s utter disregard for all human life – regardless of faith, nationality, gender, or age.”

Joshi, part of a group of foreign students who had traveled to Israel to learn about raising citrus fruits, hid with 16 other Nepalese men in a shelter as Gaza terrorists seized control of the kibbutz.

When Hamas terrorists hurled two grenades into the shelter, Joshi risked his life by running towards the grenades to throw them back out of the safe room.

While he managed to throw one out, the second exploded before he could reach it, knocking him unconscious.

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