Tel Aviv

Among the 15 Israeli soldiers killed so far during the war with Hamas, a 20-year-old soldier identified by the Israeli military is believed to be of Indian-origin.

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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.

At least 11 soldiers from the Givati Infantry Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion were killed in that incident.

Dimona's Mayor Benny Bitton expressed condolences to Solomon’s family in his Facebook post.

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Family, community remember 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 on Wednesday.

“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,” Bitton said.

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'Little India' in Israel

Dimona is also known as ‘little India’ due to the large concertation of Jews from India settling there.

Indian community members spoke to the PTI news agency describing Solomon as “a young man with pleasant manners and a very bright future ahead.”

They were saddened by his passing away and at the loss of lives of other young Israelis “fighting a just war for Israel’s existence.”

Terming the conflict as a “difficult war” with “painful losses,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue Israel’s fight “until victory.”

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“We are in a difficult war. This will be a long war. We have so many important achievements but also painful losses,” Netanyahu said.

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“We know that every soldier of ours is an entire world. The entire people of Israel embrace you, the families, from the depth of our hearts. We are all with you during your heavy sorrow. Our soldiers have fallen in the most just of wars, the war for our home,” the Israeli Prime Minister said.

“I promise the citizens of Israel: We will complete the work – we will continue until victory,” he stressed.

(With inputs agencies)