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- At least 16 Palestinians, including seven aid seekers, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to medical sources speaking to Al Jazeera.
- Israel has faced international condemnation after far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced his intention to approve the construction of more than 3,000 homes in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank, bisecting land that would be used for a future Palestinian state.
Family of Nepali student held in Gaza arrives in Israel advocate his release
The family of Nepali student Bipin Joshi have come to Israel to meet with officials and plead for his release from captivity in Gaza.
The captive’s sister, 18-year-old Pushpa Joshi, told AFP news agency at a hotel in Israel’s coastal hub of Tel Aviv that the family is from a remote part of western Nepal and that she said she did not even known what Hamas was when she heard of her brother’s kidnapping.
“I decided to come here to raise my voice for my brother,” she said. “Few people know about him, so please don’t forget him.”
Bipin, who was 22 when he was taken from the Alumim kibbutz near the Gaza border on October 7, 2023, had arrived in Israel to work at a farm just weeks before. He is one of four foreign captives still held in Gaza, of which three have been declared dead.
Israel on Monday said that “there is grave concern for his wellbeing”.
