A 20-year-old Indian-origin Israeli soldier was among the Israeli combatants killed while fighting in Gaza, community members and the Mayor of the town said on Wednesday, 1 November, as reported by PTI.
Staff-Sgt. Halel Solomon, who hailed from the southern Israeli Dimona town, was killed when a Namer armoured personnel carrier he was in was hit by an anti-tank guided missile fired by Hamas on Wednesday (Nov 1), the IDF said, according to Times of Israel newspaper.
Remembering Staff-Sgt. Halel Solomon
"It is with great sorrow and grief that we announce the death of a son of Dimona, Halel Solomon, in the battle in Gaza," Dimona's Mayor, Benny Bitton said in a Facebook post.
"We share in the grief of the parents, Ronit and Mordechai, and the sisters: Yasmin, Hila, Vered, and Shaked .... Halel aspired to do a meaningful service and enlisted in the Givati (Brigade). Halel was a devoted son and had respect for his parents always in his eyes. Possessing immense good qualities he believed in endless giving, modesty, and humility. The whole city of Dimona is grieving his passing," Mr Bitton wrote.
Dimona is a town in the south of Israel identified with Israel's nuclear reactor but some also describe it as "little India" given the large concentration of Jews from India in the township.
Indian community members told news agency PTI that he was "A young man with pleasant manners and a very bright future ahead." They expressed huge sorrow at his passing away and at the loss of lives of other young Israelis "fighting a just war for Israel's existence."
At least 1400 Israelis were killed in a deadly attack carried out by Hamas on Israel's southern communities on 7 October and more than 8,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel launched a counter-offensive attacks.
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