Second Student From Tanzania Confirmed Dead in Israel, Tanzanian Government Confirms

A Tanzanian student, Joshua Mollel, initially reported missing after a Hamas attack on an Israeli kibbutz in October 2023, has been confirmed dead by the Tanzanian government.

Mollel was working as an agricultural intern at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and he was killed immediately after being taken hostage during the October 7th attack by Hamas gunmen, according to Tanzania’s Foreign Minister, January Makamba.

This news follows the confirmed death of fellow Tanzanian student Clemence Felix Mtenga, also killed in the same attack.

Mollel and Mtenga were among 260 Tanzanian students participating in agricultural programmes in Israel when tragedy struck. Both had arrived just a month before the Hamas attack, which reportedly took 240 hostages, dozens of them Kibbutz Nahal Oz residents. A yet-to-be-identified South African national is also among the 224 hostages held by Hamas.

Makamba announced plans to send Mollel’s father, another family member, and a government official to Israel to gather further details about the circumstances surrounding his death.

“We are planning to take Mr Mollel, another family member, and a government official to Israel to get more information on the matter,” Makamba posted on X.

The Mollel family has not yet commented.