Tanzania’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, January Makamba has confirmed the death of Joshua Loitu Mollel, a second Tanzanian student who went missing on October 07,2023.
“We have been informed by Israel government that Joshua Mollel, a Tanzanian who was studying in Israel was killed immediately after he was taken hostage by Hamas,” said Makamba in a Twitter (X) post.
On November 18, Tanzania government announced the death of Clemence Felix Mtenga (22), another Tanzanian student who was also taken hostage by Hamas. Mtenga was awarded his bachelor degree posthumously by Sokoine University on November 23.
Mtenga and his compatriot Joshua Loitu Mollel were in Israel as a part of an agricultural internship program. The two were part of a group of 260 Tanzanians who were in Israel to attend practical training on modern agriculture under the Tanzania-Israel cooperation framework.
It is now more two month since Palestinian gunmen carried out an attack on towns, kibbutzim, and military bases in southern Israel.Israeli authorities say that Palestinian groups took more than 240 people captive during the attack, including Israeli soldiers and civilians, as well as people from numerous foreign countries.
Israel has responded by cutting off access to food, electricity, and fuel for the more than 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip and has pounded the area with a relentless bombing campaign.
Non-stop Israeli air raids have levelled entire neighbourhoods, killing 18,000 people including over 7000 children. At least 87 journalists and 101 UN staff are reportedly killed by Israel campaign in Gaza, this is considered the largest toll of humanitarian workers in the organisation’s 78-year history.
The United Nations has said that Israel’s attacks on Gaza amount to collective punishment of a population with few options for seeking safe haven, and humanitarian conditions in the strip have grown increasingly dire.
