Master Sgt. (res.) Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, of the 551st Brigade’s 699th Battalion, died Thursday as a result of wounds suffered in battle with terrorists in Gaza. He was the son of former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot.
Israeli Army’s new Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot, reviews an honour guard during a farewell ceremony for his predecessor Lieutenant General Benny Gantz on February 16, 2015 at the Defense Ministry in the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP) (Photo by JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Master Sgt. Eisenkot was wounded during a firefight in northern Gaza, in the area of Jabaliya, according to the IDF website. Hamas has two main strongholds in Gaza — one in Gaza City, in the north, and one in Khan Younis (or Yunis), in the south. The IDF is closing in on both strongholds.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement (translated from Hebrew by the Government Press Office):
To Hannah and Gadi Eisenkot,
Sara and I are broken-hearted over your son Gal’s fall in battle.
We weep with you and we embrace you.
Gal was a brave soldier and a true hero.
We send our heartfelt condolences to your family and to the families of all of our fallen heroes.
The people embrace you with love, appreciation and gratitude – today and always.
How great is the pain. How deep is the sorrow.
The Government and citizens of Israel mourn together with you.
Our heroes have not fallen in vain. We will continue to fight until victory.
An announcer on Israel’s Army Radio seemed to be fighting tears as she announced the news of the younger Eisenkot’s death. The elder Eisenkot is a leader within the opposition Blue and White party in the Knesset, and currently serves in the War Cabinet of Israel’s emergency national unity government.
The death emphasized the sense of shared sacrifice in Israel, where there are families with both parents and children at war.
The news came amid reports of Hamas terrorists surrendering en masse to Israeli troops in Khan Younis earlier on Thursday. An Israeli civilian farmer was also killed Thursday when his vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon.
Also killed Thursday, the Times of Israel notes, was Sgt. Maj. (res.) Jonathan David Deitch, 34, of the 55th Brigade’s 6623rd Reconnaissance Battalion, fighting in Khan Younis.
Israeli military deaths since the invasion of Gaza still number fewer than 100, while thousands of Hamas terrorists have been killed.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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