Roughly 200 Israeli tourists are holed up at the Chabad House in Kathmandu, while hundreds of others remain stuck in Nepal’s mountains amid nationwide unrest, Hebrew media reported on Tuesday.
Demonstrators have torched the parliament building and shut down the main airport, leaving many Israelis uncertain about travel plans, according to Ynet.
“I landed in Nepal only two days ago, and immediately, there were problems connecting to Instagram. The taxi driver told me there would be chaos, and I thought he was joking, but it turned out he wasn’t,” Yonatan, an Israeli backpacker, told the outlet.
Protests began after the government blocked platforms such as Facebook, X and YouTube, the Associated Press reported.
‘Gen Z protest’
Nepal is a favored destination for Israeli backpackers—so much so that in 2013, the Israeli embassy inaugurated an “Israel Trail” in a Himalayan national park.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has posted a precautionary travel warning to Facebook, advising Israeli citizens to “avoid non-essential exits and listen to local authorities’ guidelines,” and to stay away from the capital of Kathmandu for the next few days.
In addition to the parliament, protesters set fire to both the official and private homes of Nepal’s Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, as well as the home of the president, Ram Chandra Poudel, and that of the leader of the opposition Communist Party, among others.
The protest has been dubbed the “Gen Z protest,” with young Nepalese angry over perceived corruption and nepotism, as the children of political leaders—called “Nepo Kids"—enjoy advantages while nearly 20% of young people are unemployed.
At least 21 people have been killed—19 on Monday and two on Tuesday—after police opened fire on protesters in Kathmandu, Ynet reported. More than 100 others were injured.
The prime minister announced that he would step down. The president accepted his resignation, appointing him head of a caretaker government until a new one can be installed. Several cabinet ministers, including the interior minister, have also resigned, Ynet reported.
