IDF soldier Moshe Yitzchak Katz, 22, from Connecticut, killed in south Lebanon

An Israel Defense Forces soldier was killed in a Hezbollah rocket attack on troops in southern Lebanon overnight between Friday and Saturday, the military announced early Sunday morning.

Sgt. Moshe Yitzchak Katz, 22, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 890th Battalion, was a member of the Chabad community 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 other soldiers were moderately wounded in the attack that killed Katz and were taken to hospitals for treatment, the military said.

Moshe Yitzchak Katz had come to Israel on his own to serve in the IDF as a so-called lone soldier, following in the footsteps of his sister, family friend Eli Raskin told Kan public radio.

Katz’s parents, Mendy and Devorah, were in Israel visiting their son earlier this month and managed to make it back to the US after the war in Iran started on February 28, the father’s social media showed.

According to Raskin, Katz was supposed to go to his parents for the Passover holiday this week, but elected to stay in Israel to fight alongside his unit.

Defense Minister Israel Katz (no relation) expressed “heartfelt condolences” to the family.

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,” wrote Katz on social media. “I salute him for his heroism and his contribution to the security of the State of Israel.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also offered condolences in a post, noting that Katz had moved to Israel to join the IDF, and saying he “fought bravely for the defense 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 soldiers were wounded in a separate Hezbollah attack the night Katz was killed, the IDF said previously. Seven were in moderate condition, including a lieutenant colonel from the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.

The IDF has pushed troops deeper into Lebanon and carried out massive strikes on Hezbollah strongholds there after the Iran-backed terror group renewed its rocket attacks on Israel on March 2.

Hezbollah, which hadn’t attacked Israel since the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, has said it renewed its attacks in response to both Israel’s continued attacks in Lebanon since that agreement, and the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on February 28.

Following the 2024 agreement, Israel held on to five strategic border posts inside Lebanon, citing security concerns, and carried out regular airstrikes there, accusing Hezbollah of ceasefire violations.

Since the terror group renewed its attacks on Israel on March 2, five IDF soldiers, including Katz, have been killed fighting in southern Lebanon.

Another two civilians were killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.