A 24-year-old Israeli soldier of Indian origin was killed in a vehicle-ramming attack near the Beit El settlement in the occupied West Bank. The soldier was a member of the Bnei Menashe community.

The Israeli Army stated that Staff Sergeant Geri Gideon Hanghal was a resident of Nof HaGalil and served as a soldier in the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion.

Community members expressed to PTI that they were "shocked by the news of the loss of a young life" following the incident near Asaf Junction on Wednesday.

Footage from the attack site showed a truck with a Palestinian license plate swerving off a busy highway and crashing at high speed into an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) guard post next to a bus stop before coming to a stop.

Hayil Dhaifallah, 58, drove his gas tanker aggressively and accelerated at the junction, crashing into the bus stop and critically injuring Hanghal.

Soldiers on the scene and an armed civilian shot Dhaifallah, who was from the Palestinian town of Rafat near Ramallah. The military established roadblocks in the area following the attack.

Hanghal had moved to Israel from India in 2020.

Nof HaGalil Mayor, Ronen Plot, was quoted by Ynetnews as saying that “the city of Nof HaGalil mourns and grieves the loss of Staff Sgt. Hanghal. Gideon was a member of the Bnei Menashe community, which is very dear to my heart—good, humble and patriotic people”.

The attacker, 58-year-old Hayil Dhaifallah from the central West Bank town of Rafat, was shot by IDF troops and an armed civilian.

Notably, approximately 300 Bnei Menashe youths are currently serving in the military, with the majority assigned to combat units during the ongoing conflict.