Israeli soldier of Indian origin killed in vehicle ramming attack near West Bank

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, community members said on Thursday.

Sergeant Geri Gideon Hanghal was a resident of Nof HaGalil and a soldier in the Nahshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade, the Israeli army said.

Community members told PTI they were “shocked by the news of the loss of a young life” near Asaf Junction on Wednesday.

Footage from the scene shows a truck with Palestinian license plates veering off a busy highway and ploughing at full speed into an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) checkpoint next to a bus stop before coming to a stop.

The suspect was identified by Israeli security sources as 58-year-old Hayil Dhaifallah from the city of Rafat in the central West Bank.

Sergeant Hanghal's funeral will take place on Thursday, it was said.

Hanghal immigrated to Israel from northeast India in 2020.

Reportedly, about 300 young Bnei Menashe members are serving in the army during the current war, most of them in combat units.

The Bnei Menashe originate from the northeastern Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram and are believed to be descended from the Israelite tribe of Menasseh, one of the “lost tribes” of antiquity.

Shlomo Amar, the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Church, declared them descendants of Menasseh in 2005, paving the way for their immigration to Israel as members of a “lost tribe.”

About 5,000 members of the Bnei Menashe community are said to have emigrated to Israel, almost 1,500 of them in the last five years. Another 5,500 still live in India and are waiting to immigrate.

Nof HaGalil Mayor Ronen Plot was quoted by Ynetnews as saying: “The city of Nof HaGalil mourns and regrets the loss of Sergeant Hanghal. Gideon was a member of the Bnei Menashe community, which is very dear to my heart – good, humble and patriotic people.”

The attack followed a series of attempted suicide bombings and shootings in the West Bank, which the Islamist Hamas group claimed responsibility for.

On October 7 last year, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, which led to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has announced it will step up its counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank, amid allegations that Iranian-backed groups are smuggling weapons into the area from Jordan and attempting to carry out attacks on Israeli territory.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said on Wednesday that five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike in Tubas overnight.

Two more people were injured by Israeli fire, one seriously, when troops stormed Tubas and the neighboring town of Tammun, the Palestinian state agency Wafa reported.

The Israeli military confirmed the airstrikes, once a rare occurrence in the West Bank, and said they targeted members of a terrorist cell.

Israeli forces have carried out more than 70 air strikes in the West Bank since October 7, using drones, attack helicopters and fighter jets.

Local media reports indicate that Israeli defense officials are increasingly concerned that violence in the West Bank could escalate into a wildfire.

The escalating violence has also been fuelled by radical Israeli settlers in the central and northern West Bank, who have carried out several attacks on Palestinians in recent weeks. Last month, for example, there was a shooting spree in a village in which a Palestinian was killed as he tried to confront the 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.

According to the Israeli military, 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 said to have arrested around 5,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank over the past eleven months, including more than 2,000 suspected of having links to Hamas.