A relief camp in Mizoram sheltering 170 internally displaced Kuki-Zo people from Manipur belonging to the Jewish community of Bnei Menashe has been holding special prayers for the “safety of Israel” every evening since Sunday following the attack by Hamas on the Jewish-majority country.

The Bnei Menashe members belonging to the Kuki-Zo tribes are descendants of a Biblical “lost tribe”, still retaining their Jewish customs and traditions, and consider Israel their “spiritual and religious” homeland.

In the Northeast, Bnei Menashe community members are found mostly among Kuki-Mizo communities living in Manipur and Mizoram.

J. Haokip, a member of the Bnei Menashe Council from Churachandpur district and currently living in the relief camp in the Kolasib district of Mizoram, told The Telegraph that 170 inmates are holding special prayers and candlelight vigil in the relief camp “in solidarity with the victims of the Hamas attack, the safety of Israel, the Israel Defence Force and others safeguarding Israel”.

He said other Bnei Menashe members from Manipur and Mizoram were also holding such prayers.

22-year-old held for Manipur student murder

The CBI has arrested a 22-year-old man from Pune in connection with the suspected murder of two Meitei students who went missing from Imphal on July 6.

The arrest was made on Wednesday, taking the number of persons arrested in the case to five.

Security adviser to the Manipur government, Kuldiep Singh, confirmed the development on Friday evening in Imphal during a media briefing on the prevailing law and order situation.