Tanzania’s foreign ministry on Thursday confirmed the death of one of its nationals who was “killed immediately after being captured by Hamas” during the October 7 attacks in southern Israel.
The Israeli government had named two students from Tanzania — 22-year-old Clemence Felix Mtenga and 21-year-old Joshua Loitu Mollel — among those missing since the attack.
Tanzania’s foreign ministry announced Mtenga’s death last month, without elaborating on how he was killed.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister January Makamba said authorities had been “informed by the Israeli government that Joshua Mollel, a young Tanzanian who was studying in Israel and with whom we have lost contact since October 7, 2023… was killed immediately after being captured by Hamas”.
He said on X that the Tanzanian authorities were making arrangements for Mollel’s relatives, including his father, to travel to Israel with a government official to “meet with our ambassador and Israeli officials and obtain more details” on the circumstances of his death.
The two students were among some 260 Tanzanian youths who went to Israel for an internship in modern farming under a partnership programme between the two countries.
Many of the places worst affected by the Hamas attacks were Israeli agricultural communes, or Kibbutzim, lining the region bordering the Gaza Strip.
Hamas militants stormed across the militarised Gaza border on October 7 and killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — according to Israel, and seized around 240 hostages.
Hamas released dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a week-long truce last month, but others have been found dead.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas with a ground, air and sea campaign in Gaza.
The war has left besieged Gaza in ruins and killed more than 18,600 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
