IDF soldier Moshe Yitzchak Katz, 22, from Connecticut, killed in south Lebanon
An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed in a Hezbollah rocket assault on troops in southern Lebanon in a single day between Friday and Saturday, the navy introduced early Sunday morning.
Sgt. Moshe Yitzchak Katz, 22, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 890th Battalion, was a member of the Chabad group in New Haven, Connecticut.
“My oldest son, with a zest for life and jokes,” wrote Katz’s father Mendy on Facebook. “My heart is shattered and the wound is real.”
Three different troopers had been reasonably wounded in the assault that killed Katz and had been taken to hospitals for therapy, the navy stated.
Moshe Yitzchak Katz had come to Israel on his personal to serve in the IDF as a so-called lone soldier, following in the footsteps of his sister, household pal Eli Raskin instructed Kan public radio.
Katz’s mother and father, Mendy and Devorah, had been in Israel visiting their son earlier this month and managed to make it again to the US after the conflict in Iran began on February 28, the daddy’s social media confirmed.
According to Raskin, Katz was imagined to go to his mother and father for the Passover vacation this week, however elected to remain in Israel to battle alongside his unit.
Defense Minister Israel Katz (no relation) expressed “heartfelt condolences” to the household.
Moshe Yitzchak “chose to leave an entire life in the US… and enlist to the IDF out of a deep sense of mission and Zionism,” Katz wrote on social media. “I salute him for his heroism and his contribution to the security of the State of Israel.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu additionally supplied condolences in a put up, noting that Katz had moved to Israel to affix the IDF, and saying he “fought bravely for the protection of the homeland.
“On behalf of all the citizens of Israel, we embrace Moshe’s family in their difficult hour and send a speedy and full recovery to our fighters who were wounded in the same incident,” Netanyahu added.
Another 20 troopers had been wounded in a separate Hezbollah assault the night time Katz was killed, the IDF stated beforehand. Seven had been in average situation, together with a lieutenant colonel from the elite Yahalom fight engineering unit.
The IDF has pushed troops deeper into Lebanon and carried out large strikes on Hezbollah strongholds there after the Iran-backed terror group renewed its rocket assaults on Israel on March 2.
Hezbollah, which had not attacked Israel for the reason that November 2024 ceasefire settlement, has stated it renewed its assaults in response to each Israel’s continued assaults in Lebanon since that settlement, and the killing of Iran’s supreme chief Ali Khamenei in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli bombing marketing campaign in Iran on February 28.
Following the 2024 settlement, Israel held on to 5 strategic border posts inside Lebanon, citing safety considerations, and carried out common airstrikes there, accusing Hezbollah of ceasefire violations.
Since the fear group renewed its assaults on Israel on March 2, 5 IDF troopers, together with Katz, have been killed combating in southern Lebanon.
Another two civilians had been killed by Hezbollah rockets, and one Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.
Times of Israel workers contributed to this report.
