Kathmandu: The Nepal government has decided to send a Nepal Airlines aircraft to Israel to bring back over 250 Nepalese students who are stranded in the country following the surprise attack by Hamas militants. An aircraft of Nepal Airlines, the national flag carrier, will leave Kathmandu for Jerusalem at 2 a.m. on Thursday to bring back 288 Nepalese students, who have registered their names in the Nepalese Embassy in Israel, expressing their desire to safely return their home, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sewa Lamsal.
Foreign Minister N.P. Saud will also travel on the same flight. However, the dead bodies of 10 Nepalese students killed by Hamas during Saturday's terror attack will not be brought on the aircraft. As the process of handing over the bodies of those killed is not yet completed by the Israeli government, we have to wait for some time to bring back the dead bodies, Lamsal said during a press conference.
"We will give priority to students while repatriating Nepalese nationals from the war-torn country," spokesperson Lamsal said. "Nobody will be left stranded and if needed we will arrange other commercial flights to bring those Nepalese who wish to be rescued," she added.
Ten Nepalese students were killed when the Hamas militant group launched a sudden strike at a farm in Israel's Kibbutz. There were 17 Nepalese students on the farm where the Hamas launched the attack. Ten Nepalese nationals were killed, six escaped and one went missing in the incident.
Four of the students who sustained injuries in the incident are currently undergoing treatment in a hospital with the assistance of the Israeli government, according to a foreign ministry source. Besides 265 agriculture students, who have gone to Israel from different universities in Nepal under the 'Learn and Earn' internship programme, there are 450 other Nepalese working in different fields in Israel.
The Nepal government will bear the airfare to bring the students back home, the source said. Israel has vowed an unprecedented offensive against the Islamic militant group Hamas ruling Gaza after its fighters broke through the border fence and stormed into the country's south through air, land and sea on October 7.
On the fifth day, the Israeli military said more than 1,200 people, including 155 soldiers, were killed in Israel. In Gaza, 950 people, including 260 children and 230 women, have died so far, according to authorities there.
