Over 200 Indian Bnei Menashe Jews join Israel's war against ‘terror group’ Hamas

Over 200 members of the Bnei Menashe community, Indian Jews, have made Aliyah since the October 7 massacre and called up for either reserve or active combat duty. Among them, 75 have joined combat units, while 140 have been summoned for reserve service throughout Israel, the Shavei Israel nonprofit said on Monday.

Shavei Israel, a Jerusaem-based non-profit founded by Michael Freund aims to strengthen ties between Diaspora communities across the globe and the State of Israel.

As per the nonprofit, they have been lobbying for the mass immigration of the Bnei Menashe community, which claims it is descended from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, for over two decades in various capacities.

According to Shavei Israel, 99% of all men of military age who immigrated from India joined Israel’s fight against the Hamas terrorist group, while 90% of women enrolled in National Service.

Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing northern Gaza as Israel’s military pushed deeper into dense urban neighbourhoods in its battle with Hamas militants. Officials in the besieged enclave said the Palestinian death toll has surpassed 11,000 people.

The search for safety in Gaza is growing more desperate as combat intensifies. Residents who escaped to the south and Palestinian health officials reported strikes in and around Gaza City’s main hospital overnight. Israel said at least one was the result of a misfired Palestinian rocket.

The World Health Organization said Friday that 20 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are no longer functioning, including a pediatric hospital that stopped operations after a reported Israeli strike in the area.

“If there is a hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza,” the U.N. humanitarian agency spokesperson, Jens Laerke, told reporters in Geneva.

More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since the war began. In the south, they’re crowded into shelters with dwindling supplies of food and water as the war enters its second month.

Gaza City, the largest urban area in the territory, is the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas following the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7 incursion into southern Israel that set off the war.

More than 1,200 people in Israel died, most of them in the Hamas attack, and about 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by Palestinian militants.

With inputs from AP.