An Israeli man, now living in southwestern Connecticut, shares his personal connection with the Israel-Hamas War.

A man who only wants to be identified as Ofek, says his close family friend died in the fighting.

"My brother knows a guy who was murdered, and he's waiting to hear back from his close friend. She's still missing from the festival," he says.

The 24-year-old spoke Monday night at Temple Israel of Westport.

He says his brother called him Tuesday morning to tell him their close friend who was at a music festival was killed.

"Girls and adults ran and they were just shooting them in the back with no mercy," said Ofek.

Ofek says he has been in the United States since September working with the Jewish Federation of Greater Fairfield County.

He says the last few days have been a nightmare.

"I cannot sleep because I am afraid of what's going to happen during the night and what am I going to miss," said Ofek.

Ofek says he keeps getting messages on his phone, but he is afraid to look.

"Every time I open it, I see more and more friends that lost their friends. I see more and more familiar faces. I just got an update they're evacuating in the northern border with Lebanon," said Ofek.

Ofek says the images he has seen, and the stories he has heard are just too sad to bear.

"How can you stay settled when you see a 6-year-old girl that's lost her parents and she's sharing that she has no place to sleep because those animals would burn her house down to the ground. Some kids were facetiming their parents and sharing that the other parent died in front of their eyes," said Ofek.

He says all we can hope is that the hate will stop.

"You just need to make sure that you're always saying I love you, I miss you, I want to be with you because that helps them and that helps you," said Ofek.

We have a way you can reach out to the Jewish Federation of Greater Fairfield County at https://shalomct.org/