By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel’s political establishment has plunged into mourning after the son of the country’s former army chief, Gadi Eisenkot, a minister in the country’s war cabinet, was killed in Gaza.
The military said 25-year-old Major Gal Eisenkot died in northern Gaza on Thursday. He was reportedly severely injured after a tunnel shaft exploded and later died in hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife were heartbroken at the news. “We are crying with you, and we are embracing you,” he added. “Gal was a brave soldier and a real hero. We are sending condolences from the bottom of our hearts to your family and the families of all the brave fallen soldiers. Our heroes didn’t die in vain. We will continue to fight until we win.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid posted a photo of Eisenkot and his son embracing while both in uniform. “This photo. This hug. A father and his son. Both in uniform. Both soldiers in this country,” he wrote. “They both respond to the call and show up when they’re needed, doing whatever they need to do. The fate of an entire nation in one hug.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also said that another soldier – named Sergeant-Major Jonathan David Deitch, 34, was killed in southern Gaza on Thursday. Their deaths brought the total death toll suffered by Israel’s military in the ground offensive to 89, according to IDF data.
At least hundreds more soldiers, officers, and reservists were killed in other operations related to the Israel-Hamas war, mainly on the border with the Gaza Strip, Worthy News monitored.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said Eisenkot had talked about his son Gal many times. “Gal was educated from childhood to love his people and his nation, and he acted in that spirit at every moment,” he said.
MILITARY SERVICE
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant recalled spending years in military service with Gal. “May we be worthy of the sacrifice made by Gal and all the other fallen soldiers in this righteous war,” he added in comments carried by Israeli media.
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also sent his condolences, saying that “Eisenkot has dedicated his life to the security of this country, and now he’s sacrificed his dear son.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir promised that “the people of Israel are entirely committed to fighting together to destroy Hamas and for Israel’s victory.”
Eisenkot’s fellow party member Minister Chili Tropper wrote about how the cabinet had decided to enter Gaza weeks ago, knowing that many of its members would potentially be affected by it. “[Minister] Gadi [Eisenkot] was patrolling the forces near Gaza precisely during the time that his son fought and was killed,” he said. “Only in small and Zionist Israel is this possible. A father who makes decisions that mean risking his son and a son who leaves everything and goes out to fight for his country. Is there any bigger sacrifice?”
Eisenkot, 63, is a battle-hardened retired general who served as Israel’s chief of the general staff from 2015-19.
A lawmaker from the National Unity party, he became a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet set up after Hamas attacked Israel in October, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.
Israel has responded by bombarding what it says are Hamas positions in Gaza from the air and launching a ground invasion. Hamas officials in Gaza claim the retaliatory strikes killed more than 17,000 people, mainly civilians, with thousands more missing under rubble.
The figures have been impossible to verify independently in Gaza, a Hamas-ruled enclave with virtually no press freedom. It remains also unclear how many fighters were counted among those killed. Israel has pledged to destroy Hamas, which it condemns as a “terrorist organization” that uses civilians as “human shields.”
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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