JERUSALEM (Diya TV) —A vehicle-ramming attack near the West Bank settlement of Beit El Wednesday killed a 24-year-old Indian-origin Israeli soldier of the Bnei Menashe community. The victim, Staff Sgt. Geri Gideon Hanghal, who was serving in the Nahshon Battalion in Kfir Brigade and living in Nof HaGalil, was killed when a truck rammed an Israel Defence Forces guard post.
The incident happened when a truck bearing a Palestinian plate drove off a busy highway and veered into the guard post beside a bus stop near Asaf Junction. Israeli security sources identified the suspect as 58-year-old Hayil Dhaifallah of Rafat, a central West Bank town.
Hanghal will be laid to rest on Thursday. His death has shocked the Bnei Menashe community, who claim descent from the ancient Israelite tribe of Menasseh. Members of this community began immigrating to Israel in the early 2000s, after official recognition by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar. Today, some 300 Bnei Menashe youth serve in the Israeli Army – hundreds of them serving in combat roles.
Nof HaGalil Mayor Ronen Plot said, in sorrow: “The city of Nof HaGalil mourns and grieves the passing of Staff Sgt. Gideon Hanghal. A member of the Bnei Menashe community, which is very close to my heart-good, humble, and with a love for the country.
The attack is part of a broader trend of violence emanating from the West Bank. The conflict, which dramatically escalated on October 7, 2023, after a major assault by Hamas, has seen Israel scale up its operations against terrorism. The IDF has stepped up its efforts in an attempt to rein in attacks and narcotics-smuggling operations associated with Iran proxies.
In new developments, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced that Israeli airstrikes overnight in Tubas killed five Palestinians. Meanwhile, at least two others were injured as IDF raids took place in Tubas and Tammun. The IDF says the airstrikes hit members of a terror cell-part of an escalation in violence in the West Bank.
The rising acts of violence have created apprehensions of further escalation. Recent hardline Israeli settlers’ attacks on Palestinian communities have contributed to the tension. The Palestinian Authority has claimed that over 670 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli forces since October 7th, while the IDF-which says most of the casualties were militants, rioters, or attackers-have made claims of their own.
Israel reportedly arrested some 5,000 Palestinians in the West Bank in the past eleven months, including over 2,000 suspected Hamas operatives.
