Israeli Traveler Badly Injured in Violent Attack Near Israeli Hostel in Nepal

An Israeli traveler was seriously wounded Monday night in Kathmandu, Nepal, when a group of local men ambushed him in an alley leading to an Israeli hostel. The victim, 25-year-old Almog Armoza from Gedera, said he was struck in the head with an iron rod moments after the attackers heard him speaking Hebrew in a voice message.

Armoza was walking alone toward the hostel when he began recording an audio message to a friend. He said that as he neared the end of the message, several men approached him from behind and hit him without warning. “They hit me in the head with an iron rod. If I hadn’t escaped, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be alive today,” he said. According to him, the attackers did not try to take his phone, bag, or any of his belongings.

He said he is convinced the assault was not a robbery attempt. “There is a very strong chance the motive for this attack was nationalistic. They knew I was in the alley leading to the hostel, and they didn’t steal anything,” he said. The area where the attack occurred is approximately 150 meters from the hostel and is commonly used by Israeli tourists walking through the neighborhood.

Armoza said he was hit first from behind while his phone was still in his hand. “I was recording a message to a friend in Hebrew, and at the end of it I felt a massive blow to my head from an iron rod. They came at me from behind,” he said. He said there was a short pause between the first hit and the second because the attackers expected him to collapse. When he managed to stay on his feet, another blow followed. “I saw three to five people. One grabbed my jacket and another hit me again, opening my head and causing bleeding,” he said.

He said he was able to escape only by pushing back and breaking free from the group. “They chased me, but when they saw I was getting close to the hostel, where there is security, they ran off,” he said. After reaching the entrance, Armoza and hostel staff alerted local police and arranged transportation to a hospital.

At the hospital, he received stitches and underwent an MRI scan to rule out internal injuries. “I probably lost a liter of blood,” he said. “The level of brutality was intended to kill.” His condition stabilized following treatment, but he remains under observation.

Despite the attack, Armoza emphasized that he did not want to generalize negatively about Nepalese citizens. “At the end of the day, Nepalese people are good people and I don’t want to give them a bad name. I think this was a group of extremists,” he said.

Chabad emissary in Kathmandu, Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz, who accompanied him at the hospital, said the motive had not yet been confirmed. “It’s still not clear what the motive was. Logic suggests it may have been nationalistic because he was attacked from behind without any reason,” he said. “It was an organized assault and the attackers were equipped. The area is covered with cameras.”

Armoza’s scheduled flight back to Israel was canceled due to the attack. He is now waiting for his insurance provider to arrange a new ticket home.