THE body of a young Tanzanian student who was killed in the southern Israel attack by Palestinian militants October 7 last year is still being held by the militia, an Israeli diplomat has stated.

Michael Lotem, the Israeli envoy to Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Seychelles whose office also handles Tanzanian diplomatic matters, said here yesterday that the body of Joshua’ Mollel  was taken by the urban guerrillas to the now devastated Gaza enclave and is still being held as a bargaining chip in off and on talks via intermediary parties.

He envoy said Israeli efforts to convince the relevant governments to call on the radical militants to release Joshua’s body are so far unsuccessful, at an appearance here to show a video of the student being tortured by the kidnappers who killed more than a thousand Israelis and foreigners upon whom they launched a genocidal assault leading to a biting year-long Israeli military campaign to annihilate the Hamas guerrilla movement.

The video shows the student pleading for his life, and later circulated via Hamas related social media channels, with the envoy noting that “until now they boast to still have the dead body preserved and will be released once their demands are fulfilled”.

He did not disclose what the movement is demanding specifically for the student’s body, while indicating that there are more than 200 other students from this country studying in Israel.

The death of Joshua Mollel, then 21, was confirmed on December 13, 2023 with an announcement from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, where he used to stay, and captured by Hamas by the militants during the now infamous attack on southern Israeli towns, villagers and border posts.

Joshua was an agricultural intern who was reported missing right from October 7, with fellow agricultural intern Clemence Mtenga, also reported as missing and then declared dead on November 18, following the kidnapping.

Mtenga’s body was however flown back to Tanzania and he was buried at his home village in Arumeru, Arusha Region while his colleague’s body is yet to be delivered.

Joshua had arrived in Israel just mid-September 2023 and was to meet with his death in less than a month of arrival.

Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, an activist group working in the area, said that 36 agriculture interns from Tanzania were living near Gaza at the time of the assault. No others were harmed in the milestone attack that has changed realities in the Middle East.