WASHINGTON: Two American members of the Israeli Defence Force have been killed in Gaza fighting, US officials confirmed yesterday.
“We can confirm that two IDF soldiers killed in Gaza were US citizens — Sean Carmeli and Max Steinberg,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters.
“We obviously extend our deepest condolences to the families on their loss,” she said, adding that officials from the US embassy in Tel Aviv and the State Department had been in touch with relatives of the two men.
She could not confirm reports that the two were members of the Golani Brigade, 13 of whom were killed in Hamas attacks on Sunday.
Carmeli, 21, of Israeli parents, grew up in Texas, while Steinberg, 24, grew up in southern California, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Steinberg, who lived in the city of Beersheba, joined the IDF in late 2012 and was a sniper in the brigade, according to the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
The Israeli army said 13 soldiers were killed inside Gaza on Sunday.
US President Barack Obama has called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, with the death toll in Gaza now rising above 570.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo yesterday for meetings with senior officials from Egypt and other countries to push for a truce.
While Harf could not give a figure for the number of Americans serving in the IDF, she stressed dual nationals were not usually barred from military service in foreign countries.
It “usually does not cause loss of nationality or problems, since an intention to relinquish nationality normally is lacking,” she told reporters.AFP
