Israeli minister said his son, killed by Hamas in Gaza, believed he was fighting a 'just war'

• The son of Israel's war cabinet minister and Former IDF Chief Gadi Eisenkot killed in Gaza.
• Gal Eisenkot was killed after a bomb exploded in a tunnel shaft in the Jabaliya camp in northern Gaza.

Master-Sgt. Gal Meir Eisenkot, the son of war cabinet minister and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, died in northern Gaza on Thursday, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Eisenkot, 25, died in battle. He was a reservist infantry fighter in the 699th battalion, in the 551st reserve brigade.

In a eulogy for his son, Gadi Eisenkot said, "In a conversation about the war in Gaza, you told me that you and your comrades in the company feel that this is a just war. That we must return all the hostages and defeat Hamas."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Yitzhak Herzog, and Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana were among the high-profile mourners at Eisenkot's military cemetery in Herzliya.

Yair Lapid, Israeli politician and Leader of the Opposition, shared a photo of the Eisenkot father-son duo embracing in military uniform.

"The fate of an entire country in one embrace. Gadi, Hana, we cry for you," Lapid wrote in Hebrew.

Eisenkot's IDF career started in Shayetet 13. He moved to the elite Maglan unit to serve as a combat medic.

The late Eisenkot was the youngest of five children. His father said he was proud of Gal's special bond with his mother and siblings.

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz said, "From a home like yours, heroes emerge. Only those who love the homeland may fall for the sake of securing its future. I am with you, the Eisenkot family."

In his eulogy, Gadi told his son they would "do everything" for "those who sacrificed for your comrades in arms and for the entire Israeli people."

Gal was among five Israeli soldiers killed in a 24-hour period of fighting in Gaza, per Haaretz.

17,177 Palestinians, including 7,112 children, have been killed since the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, per the Ministry of Health in Gaza.