The government has said that it will rescue Nepali students stuck in a bunker in Israel on Monday itself.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s personal secretary Ramesh Malla told Setopati that they were constantly in touch with Israel’s government officials and the Nepali students stuck in the bunker.
The Israeli side has said that they will rescue the Nepali students within three hours, he added.
According to Malla, they had been requesting the Israeli side to rescue the students since Sunday but the rescue operation was delayed as the Israeli side refused to bring the students out of the bunker citing possible security threat from members of the Hamas group suspected to be hiding in the area.
“They have said that they will rescue today. The Nepali Embassy is coordinating. We are also in regular touch with the students in the bunker,” Malla said.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4,500 Nepalis are currently working in Israel as caregivers and they are all safe. Similarly, 265 students are studying agriculture and other disciplines there.
The government is taking initiatives to rescue and repatriate Nepalis in Israel and make arrangements for treatment of the injured.
Foreign Minister NP Saud’s secretariat has informed that an aircraft has been kept on standby to bring the bodies of the deceased to Nepal.
Ten Nepali students were killed in Saturday’s attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
According to MoFA, the students were part of a group of 17 studying in Kibbutz Alumim, an area near the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel.
According to the Nepali Embassy in Israel, Anand Sah of Dhanusha, Narayan Prasad Neupane and Ashish Chaudhary of Kailali, Lokendra Singh Dhami of Darchula, Rajesh Kumar Swarnakar of Sunsari, Ganesh Kumar Nepali of Bajhang, Dipesh Raj Bishta of Darchula, Rajan Phulara and Padam Thapa of Doti, and Prabesh Bhandari of Salyan were killed in Saturday’s attack by Hamas.
Bidhan Sejuwal of Salyan, Himanchal Kattel of Gorkha and Prabin Dangi of Dang are undergoing treatment while Dhan Bahadur Chaudhary and Birendra Chaudhary of Kailali and Pramod KC of Salyan are safe, the embassy said.
Bipin Joshi of Kanchanpur is still missing after the attack.
