A 22-year-old soldier who grew up in Connecticut has been killed while fighting for Israel in southern Lebanon, officials said Sunday. The Israel Defense Forces identified him as Sgt. Moshe Yitzchak Hacohen Katz, born in New Haven and posthumously promoted from corporal, reports CBS News. He served in the IDF's Paratroopers Brigade, 890th Battalion, after moving to Israel a year ago and enlisting, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "On behalf of all citizens of Israel, we embrace the family of the late Moshe in their difficult time," he said in a statement.
"My heart is shattered and the wound is real," his father, Mendy Katz, said in a Facebook post. Katz's great-uncle, Rabbi Yehoshua Hecht, told Israel's Army Radio that Katz was religious, a strong student, and "enjoyed every moment of life." The IDF did not release details on the circumstances of his death beyond saying it occurred in combat in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces are battling Hezbollah as part of a broader conflict linked to the war involving Iran. The AP reports five Israeli soldiers have been killed in Lebanon this month. The UN refugee agency warns Lebanon is on the brink of a deeper humanitarian emergency, with about a million residents displaced, while an Israeli think tank estimates more than 1,100 people have died in Israeli strikes there since the war began.