Gal Meir Eisenkot, son of Israeli war cabinet minister killed in Gaza

Master Sgt. (res.) Gal Meir Eisenkot, the son of Israeli Minister Gadi Eisenkot, was killed in the Gaza Strip, Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced on Thursday (Dec 7).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the funeral of the 25-year-old Eisenkot on Friday at the Old Cemetery in Herzliya.

Sgt. Major (res.) Jonathan David Deitch of the 55th Brigade's 6623rd Reconnaissance Battalion was also reportedly killedin the Gaza Strip.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

IDF claimed that Eisenkot was killed in northern Gaza and Deitch was killed during a gunbattle in the southern Strip. As per IDF, three other troopers were seriously injured and shifted to hospitals for treatment.

The Israeli war cabinet minister learned of the death of his son while conferring about operational plans at military headquarters outside the Palestinian enclave.

When the minister was summoned by a casualty notification officer, he was in an operational planning room with fellow centrist minister Benny Gantz.

In a televised eulogy, Gantz said that the experience brought home for them both the career-long knowledge that "arrows on the map can become arrows in the hearts of beloved families".

"As that door - a door that became a curse - opened, it was similar to so many doors that you have opened in the past," Gantz said in remarks addressed to Eizenkot. Both are former infantrymen who rose to command all of Israel's military.

"I looked at you. When you went out, I thought: 'No one deserves this. Gal doesn't deserve this. Only those who love the homeland, who are raised to defend it and stand at the vanguard, are liable to fall in battle while protecting its future."

Gal Eisenkot was among hundreds of thousands of military reservists mobilised for an Israeli offensive in response to an Oct 7 cross-border killing and kidnapping spree by Hamas.

Addressing his dead son, the minister said: "Gal, I am certain that we will press the offensive, the effort to bolster the country which you so loved - in order that it will mainly be strong, cultivated and righteous".

Watch:Humanitarian crisis worsen in Gaza, dozens of Palestinian men were stripped and detained

Hamas brutality can't justify collective punishmentof Palestinians:Guterres

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that Hamas brutality could never justify "collective punishment" of Palestinians as Israel intensifies the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Some 130 hostages are still held captive. I call for their immediate and unconditional release, as well as their humane treatment and visits from the International Committee of the Red Cross until they are freed," Guterres said at an emergency meeting of the organisation's Security Council.

"At the same time, the brutality perpetrated by Hamas can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," he added.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Friday the death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has risen to at least 17,487 in the Palestinian territory.

Hamas also called on Friday for the United Nations Security Council to end the "brutal war" in the Gaza Strip.

(With inputs from agencies)

Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.