An Israeli army reservist who was raised in Maryland was killed on Friday when anti-tank missile hearth struck his unit close to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the Israeli army Stated.

Omer Balva, 22, was among the many 360,000 reservists that the Israeli authorities has mobilized in an immense enhance in its army forces forward of an anticipated floor invasion of Gaza.

Mr. Balva was a workers sergeant within the 9203rd battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade, based on the Israel Protection Forces.

He moved to Israel after graduating from highschool in Rockville, Md., in 2019 and was a pupil at Reichman College in Herzliya, Israel, the place he was finding out for a level in enterprise administration and economics.

Jonathan Missner stated his son Ethan had recognized Mr. Balva since they had been each about 6 years previous. Mr. Balva, he stated, was “solely jovial, solely smiling,” and made everybody round him chuckle, whether or not he was serving within the army, working or spending time with family members.

He stated his household had final seen Mr. Balva whereas he was on trip in america earlier this month.

On Sunday, Mr. Missner and his household watched a livestream of Mr. Balva’s funeral in Israel.

Mr. Balva graduated from the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day Faculty in Rockville, exterior Washington, in 2019. The varsity stated in a press release on Instagram that Mr. Balva was “an unabashed advocate for the State of Israel.”

In a 2018 faculty presentation, Mr. Balva described his household’s lengthy historical past with Israel and stated that his dad and mom had moved to america in 1996 for enterprise causes. He wrote within the presentation that he hoped to maneuver to Israel as an grownup and to boost his kids there.