The IDF announced the death of Staff-Sergeant Maoz Morell early Tuesday morning.
Morell, 22 years old, was from the settlement of Talmon. He was wounded in combat in the southern part of the Gaza Strip last week and succumbed to his wounds on Monday.
The fallen soldier's mother, Varda Morell, on Kan's "This Morning" program on Tuesday, said of her son, "Maoz was a simple boy, and he always went around with a very big smile. [He was a] relatively quiet child, but when he had a goal - he worked every day to achieve it. This should be the message to everyone - you don't have to be a big person to influence people in the world."
Morell was a fighter in the Paratroopers Brigade and, according to his mother, was mortally wounded after attending to his own wounded comrades.
"Many comrades were sitting inside a room, and suddenly a grenade was thrown inside, and they sought shelter," his mother described, according to Kan. "Maoz was still asleep, and about ten soldiers were injured. Maoz and another comrade woke up and began to provide first aid to the wounded."
Despite not being a medic, Varda recalled that "Everyone said that [Morell] gave the best treatment."
Facing down the enemy
After that, Varda describes, Morell, along with the battalion commander, went out to confront the terrorists who launched the attack. After discovering the enemy position, "a tank fired at a building where terrorists were located - and destroyed it," Morell's mother told Kan, citing her son's comrades. "The blast from the building sent out a lot of shrapnel, and he was hit by a huge fragment that penetrated his head."
"When we arrived at the hospital," Varda added, "the doctor told us that he was suffering from a very severe head injury - I remember he said the word 'unfortunately' - I realized that we were talking about something very bad."
Morell's funeral is scheduled to take place at noon on Tuesday at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl, the IDF stated.