Jerusalem: An Indian-origin Israeli soldier was killed in a vehicle attack near Bet El settlement on the West Bank. The soldier belonged to the Beni Menashe community. People of the community gave this information on Thursday. The Israeli army said that Staff Sergeant Gerry Gideon Hanghal (24) was a soldier in the Nahshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade. He was a resident of Nof HaGalil. Community members told PTI that they were ‘shocked by the news of the young man’s death’ near Assaf Junction on Wednesday.

CCTV footage from the scene shows a truck with a Palestinian license plate traveling at high speed on a busy highway before stopping and hitting an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) checkpoint near a bus stop. Israeli security sources have named the suspect as 58-year-old Hayil Dhaifallah, a resident of the central West Bank city of Rafat. He said that Sergeant Hanghal’s funeral will be held on Thursday. Hanghal had immigrated to Israel from the northeastern part of India in 2020. It is said that during the current war, about 300 youths of the Beni Menashe community are doing military duty and most of them are working in combat units.

It is believed that the Beni Menashe, who came from the northeastern states of Manipur and Mizoram of India, are descendants of the Israeli tribe Menasseh. The attack came after continuous incidents of suicide bombings and firing that started from the West Bank. Islamic Hamas has claimed responsibility for this. On October 7 last year, Hamas attacked Israel, after which the war started in Gaza and it continues till now.