Hanghal immigrated to Israel from northeast India in 2020.
Jerusalem:
A 24-year-old Israeli soldier of Indian origin from the Bnei Menashe community was killed in a vehicle attack near the West Bank settlement of Beit El, members of the community said Thursday.
Sergeant Geri Gideon Hanghal was a resident of Nof HaGalil and a soldier in the Nahshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, the Israeli military said.
Community members told PTI that they were “shocked by the news of the loss of a young life” on Wednesday near Asaf Junction.
His funeral will be held on Thursday, they said.
Hanghal immigrated to Israel from northeast India in 2020.
Some 300 young men from Bnei Menashe are said to be serving in the military during the current war, with most of them serving in combat units.
The Bnei Menashe, originally from the northeastern Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram, are believed to be descended from the Israelite tribe of Menasseh, one of the “lost tribes” of antiquity.
Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic chief rabbi, declared them descendants of Menasseh in 2005, paving the way for their immigration to Israel as members of a “lost tribe.”
Some 5,000 members of the Bnei Menashe community are said to have immigrated to Israel, including nearly 1,500 in the past five years. Another 5,500 are still living in India and are waiting to immigrate.
Nof HaGalil Mayor Ronen Plot told Ynetnews that “the city of Nof HaGalil is in mourning and regrets the loss of Sergeant Hanghal. Gideon was a member of the Bnei Menashe community, which is very dear to me – good, humble and patriotic people.”
Footage from the scene of the attack showed a truck with Palestinian license plates leaving a busy highway and speeding into an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) guard post adjacent to a bus stop before coming to a stop.
The suspect was identified by Israeli security sources as Hayil Dhaifallah, 58, from the central West Bank town of Rafat.
The attack follows a series of attempted suicide bombings and shootings in the West Bank claimed by the Islamic group Hamas.
On October 7 last year, Hamas launched a vile attack on Israel, leading to the current war in Gaza.
Israel has said it is stepping up its anti-terror operations in the West Bank, alleging that Iranian-backed groups are smuggling weapons into the area from Jordan and trying to carry out attacks on Israeli soil.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said Wednesday that five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Tubas overnight.
Two other people were wounded by Israeli fire, one of them seriously, when troops attacked Tubas and the neighbouring town of Tammun, the Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported.
The IDF confirmed the airstrikes, which were previously rare in the West Bank, and said they targeted members of a terror cell.
The IDF has carried out more than 70 airstrikes in the West Bank since October 7, using drones, attack helicopters and fighter jets.
Local media have been failing to report that top Israeli defense officials are increasingly concerned that the violence in the West Bank could escalate into a full-scale conflagration.
The spiral of violence has also been fueled by hardline Israeli settlers in the central and northern West Bank, who have carried out several attacks against Palestinians in recent weeks, including a vicious attack on a village last month in which a Palestinian man was killed while trying to confront rioters.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) Health Ministry said more than 670 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the PA-controlled West Bank since October 7.
The IDF says the vast majority of those killed were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists who carried out attacks.
Israel is also said to have arrested some 5,000 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank over the past eleven months, including more than 2,000 said to be linked to Hamas.
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