A Haifa resident died of wounds sustained when an Iranian ballistic missile struck his home during “Operation Roaring Lion,” three months after the attack, the city’s mayor said on Wednesday.
Michael Katz, 82, “was injured in his home in a criminal attack deliberately targeting civilians in the heart of Haifa” on April 5, Mayor Yona Yahav wrote on Facebook.
“For three months, we accompanied his struggle for life with hope, and this morning we bid him farewell with great sorrow,” Yahav added.
Katz worked for decades at defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and “dedicated his life to the security of the State of Israel,” the mayor said.
He is survived by his wife, Nina, who was lightly wounded in the attack, his sons Itamar and Yoav, and six grandchildren.
The April 5 strike also killed four members of another family. Their bodies were recovered from the wreckage after a search operation that rescue officials described as the most difficult of the war, with the final body recovered 18 hours after the attack.
An Israeli Air Force investigation found that air defenses failed to intercept the missile, whose warhead struck the building, which did not have a bomb shelter.
A total of 24 Israeli civilians and foreign nationals were killed in hundreds of Iranian ballistic missile attacks during the first weeks of “Operation Roaring Lion.”
