A 24-year-old Indian-origin Israeli soldier from the Bnei Menashe community was killed in a vehicle-ramming attack close to the West Bank’s Beit El settlement, community members said on Thursday. Staff Sergeant Geri Gideon Hanghal was a resident of Nof HaGalil and a soldier in the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion, the Israeli Army said.
Community members told PTI that they were “in shock at the news of the loss of a young life” on Wednesday near Asaf Junction. Footage from the scene of the attack showed a truck with a Palestinian licence plate veering off a busy highway and barrel full speed into an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) guard post adjacent to a bus stop before coming to a halt. The suspect was named by Israeli security sources as 58-year-old Hayil Dhaifallah, from the central West Bank town of Rafat. Sergeant Hanghal’s funeral will be held on Thursday, they said.
Hanghal immigrated to Israel from the northeastern part of India in 2020. Some 300 Bnei Menashe youngsters are said to be doing Army duty during the current war, most of them serving in combat units. The Bnei Menashe, hailing from India’s north-eastern states of Manipur and Mizoram, are believed to have descended from the Israelite tribe of Menasseh, one of the “lost tribes” of ancient times.
