KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 9

The government condoled the death 10 Nepali nationals who were killed by Hamas militants in Israel on Friday. A meeting of the Council of Ministers held here today wished speedy recovery of the injured Nepali nationals.

According to a press releaseissued by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's private secretariat, the government declared nat i o n a l mourning day on October 10 and directed government buildings and Nepali missions abroad to fly national flags at halfmast.

The Cabinet alsodecided to immediately repatriate the bodies of Nepali nationals from Israel by coordinating with Israeli authorities.

The government also decided to give ex gratia payment of one million rupees to each family who lost their loved ones in the Hamas attacks on Israel.

The Nepali Embassy in Israel, in coordination with the Government of Israel, will accelerate the pace of search for Nepali nationals who are missing and provide treatment to those injured in the Hamas attack. The Nepali Embassy in Israel will send the list of Nepali nationals in Israel who want to return to Nepal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The government will charter Nepal Airlines and Himalaya Airlines planes to fly Nepali nationals from Israel to Nepal. The government has also authorised theNepali Embassy in Israel to hire a person who can speak Hebrew for three months to assist in repatriation and rescue of Nepali nationals.

The Nepali Embassy in Israel has also been authorised to build transit home in Israel to facilitate the repatriation of Nepali nationals to Nepal.

The government also decided to seek the help of Israeli gov-ernment and other neighbouring countries to rescue Nepali nationals in Israel. The government also urged the public not to write irrelevant and insensitive news about the tragedy facing Nepali families or post such materials on social networkingsites.

Meanwhile, Nepali Embassy in Israel has issued a press release saying that it had started collecting names of those willing to return to Nepal and until this evening 200 Nepalis had expressed their desire to return to Nepal. The embassy also said that it had started to bring Nepalis trapped in Israel-Gaza border areas where Hamas had launched attack to safer places with the help of Israeli security forces and non-governmental organisations.

Nepali Embassy in Israel said that two students had been brought to Tel Aviv and four Nepali nationals were undergoing treatment at the hospital. It said that it had accelerated the pace of search for one Nepali national with whom contact has not been established since the Hamas attack.

The Nepali embassy in Tel Aviv also said it had started to ring back those Nepalis who were trapped in the Israel-Gaza border from harm's way

A version of this article appears in the print on October 10, 2023, of The Himalayan Times