KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 12A total of 253 Nepali students stranded in Israel boarded the rescue flight of Nepal Airlines today from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. Nepal Airlines plane to bring mortal remains of Nepalis from Israel Sudurpaschim govt announces Rs 2 Lakh to each family of Nepali students killed in Israel A Nepal Airlines plane carrying Nepali students wishing to return home in the wake of the Palestinian militant group Hamas' recent attack on Israel is scheduled to land at Tribhuvan International Airport by Thursday midnight."Total 253 Nepali students board the rescue flight of Nepal Airlines," posted MoFA on 'X' formerly known as twitter. Foreign Minister of Nepal N P Saud joined the evacuation team on a chartered plane from Nepal to Israel today to bring back Nepali students under the 'Learn and Earn' programme in Israel.Minister Saud and Nepal ambassador to Israel Kanta Rizal also took updates on Israel's current situation with Nadav Ben Yahuda, representative of the Israeli Army, in the presence of Gil Haskel, chief of protocol, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.MoFA spokesperson Sewa Lamsal informed through a press conference that "A total 253 students boarded the flight and are headed towards Nepal, She added that search for the missing student Bipin Joshi was still on and the bodies of ten students couldn't be brought due to some protocols of the Israeli government."Of the four injured students two have boarded the flight, while two are under treatment in Israel, according to Lamsal.The Cabinet meeting held yesterday had decided to send Minister Narayan Prasad Saud to Israel by chartered flight with the authority to supervise and coordinate the rescue.Following the decision, Minister Saud boarded the plane from TIA.The Cabinet meeting had decided that the government would bear the expenditure of Nepalis who wanted to return to Nepal from Israel.Prior to that, PM Dahal had instructed Minister of Culture,Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kiranti to arrange a rescue flight to be sent to Israel to bring Nepalis.MoFA spokesperson also informed that at the outset students were prioritised as caregivers working in Israel were comparatively safer than the students and they were attached with the Israeli families.The Nepali Embassy in Tel Aviv has also informed those who are in Israel and want to return to their country or shift to a safer place to fill the form online.By Wednesday, more than 350 people had filled the form, however, not all of them wanted to return home, according to officials.Besides the 253 people who will be in Nepal by Thursday midnight, separate arrangements will be made for those who want to come.Meanwhile, the federal government and provincial governments have announced separate relief for the families of Nepalis who were killed in Israel.On Monday, the government decided to provide relief of NRs 1 million each to the families of the deceased.Seven people from Sudurpaschim province, one each from Karnali, Madhes and Koshi provinces were killed in the attack by Hamas.The provincial governments have also announced relief to the families of the deceased in all provinces other than Koshi.Madhes province has decided to provide NRs 500,000 as relief to the family of one of the deceased from Dhanusha.Similarly, Karnali province has decided to provide NRs 300,000 to the family of one of the deceased from the province.

Sudurpaschim government has decided to provide relief of 200,000 to each family of the seven deceased Nepalis.There are altogether 4,500 Nepalis working as caregivers in Israel, 265 students have gone to the agricultural sector to learn by working under the 'Learn and Earn' scheme, according to government data.

However, a few Nepalis in Israel have not been included in the official data as they went to Israel illegally.A version of this article appears in the print on October 13, 2023, of The Himalayan Times .

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