Kathmandu: In the first round of evacuation from Israel, Nepal has planned to evacuate a total of 250 nationals from Israel while the bodies of 10 Nepali students killed will be repatriated later, the Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Sewa Lamsal, the Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press briefing announced that Nepal Airlines will fly for Tel Aviv late on Wednesday. Only 250 out of 288 who have registered to fly to the homeland would be brought back, the official announced.
“Till afternoon 350 Nepali in Israel have registered online for support. Out of them, 288 have wished to fly back to Nepal. For those wanting to return to Nepal, a 250-seated Nepal Airlines aircraft is flying to Tel Aviv (Israel) from Kathmandu (Nepal).
As limited commercial flights are operating to and out of Israel, those wanting to return to Nepal via commercial flights, the Nepal Embassy in Israel would facilitate them,” Sewa Lamsal, Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nepal said in a press briefing.
Furthermore, the Spokesperson announced that the bodies of the Nepali students would be only flown out from Israel once the protocols are completed which would take time.
“The mortal remains won’t be flown back to Nepal this time, there are some other protocols to follow. Once the Israeli government hands over those bodies then only it would be brought back. As Israel is in a state of war, postmortem protocols need to be followed, we have requested them but we are not in the condition to pressure them,” spokesperson Lamsal said.
A Nepal Airlines Airbus 330 aircraft with an occupancy of 274 passengers will take off from Tribhuvan International Airport in the early hours of Thursday including the Foreign Minister NP Saud.
A cabinet meeting has decided to send the Foreign Minister to bring back those who have signed up to return home. As per Lamsal, students would be given utmost priority at the time of evacuation.
As the war between Israel and Palestine continues on 5th day, the whereabouts of one Nepali student is yet to be ascertained. Officials at the Foreign Ministry stated that a search is underway utilizing all possible measures.
Meanwhile, two Nepali students injured in the attack of Hamas have been discharged from the hospital while two continue to be under medical supervision. The latest move of the Nepal government comes in the wake of the death of 10 students from Nepal in Kibbutz near the Gaza border after Hamas terrorists opened fire on them on Saturday.
The Nepal government on Sunday confirmed the death of the students, who were in Israel under a 10-month internship in the agricultural sector.
Amid the ongoing onslaught in Gaza, the spokesperson for the Israel Defence Force (IDF), Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, on Wednesday said 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 2,700 injured in the Hamas attacks, adding that the Israeli soldiers were ready to execute the mission in Gaza.
The death toll of Israelis stands at over 1200 as of now. The overwhelming majority of them are civilians and more than 2700 are wounded.
The IDF spokesperson, earlier today, has said about 300,000 soldiers have been deployed on the Gaza border claiming that they would ensure that the Hamas will be shorn of its military capabilities by the end of the counter-offensive.
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