An Israeli backpacker is understood to be among the estimated 65 people killed by the earthquake that struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch last night.

The man, who was travelling with three friends, was in a car when the 6.3 magnitude quake struck and caused a building to collapse on top of it.

An official from Israel’s Foreign Ministry said there could be as many as 150 Israelis in the area, which is a popular spot for tourists.

A Jewish centre was among the buildings damaged by a devastating earthquake in New Zealand.

There are also concerns that an Israeli tourist was among the estimated 65 people killed when the 6.3 magnitude tremor hit New Zealand’s second city.

The earthquake also hit Christchurch’s Chabad headquarters, leaving those inside just minutes to escape outside as the building collapsed.

Christchurch, which is home to a small Jewish community and one synagogue, is a popular spot for Israeli backpackers, who take advantage of the Chabad facilities in the city.

Armed police forced a religious Israeli man to his knees and took him away for questioning after passengers on a New Zealand ferry mistook his tefillin boxes for an explosive device.

The man and a friend were later freed without charge, after police realised that they were not a terrorist threat and were merely observing Jewish practice.

An elite police unit was called in when another passenger saw the man strapping the leather boxes to his arm and alerted crewmembers.

New Zealand's Agriculture Minister reversed his ban on the kosher slaughter of poultry last week amid allegations that his original controversial decision was taken to appease Muslim countries which have lucrative trade agreements with New Zealand.

Lawyers acting for David Carter negotiated a settlement last Friday, just three days before a legal challenge, which was being closely monitored by Shechita UK as well as the Office of the Chief Rabbi, was due to open in the High Court in Wellington.

The Jewish community in New Zealand is celebrating after the country’s ban on kosher poultry was overturned.

An agreement has been reached with the minister of agriculture which will enable the shechitah of poultry to continue, but the community is still negotiating over the slaughter of lamb .

In May, Agriculture Minister David Carter rejected a recommendation that shechitah be exempt from the new animal welfare code, which mandates that all commercially slaughtered animals must first be stunned, making shechitah illegal.