Former IDF chief of staff and leader of the Yashar! Party, Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gadi Eisenkot said he did not think he had cried for 50 years until the funeral of his son, Master-Sgt. Gal Eisenkot, who was killed in combat in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.
Speaking in a Sunday KAN Reshet Bet interview ahead of Remembrance Day, he reflected on his loss and how he dealt with the grief, while continuing to move forward.
Eisenkot explained, “You need to gather strength, to look for good reasons to continue living a normal life. I understand that you cannot turn the clock back.”
“You can and must remember, there is great pain, longing, and a huge sense of loss for what Gal could have done; alongside the understanding that there is family, grandchildren, and friends, and you want them to continue to grow, to be happy, and to love life,” Eisenkot said.
During the war following the October 7 Hamas massacre, Gal, 25, fell in combat in December 2023 in the northern Gaza Strip.
Since then, Eisenkot has said that the loss of his youngest son has pushed him to take action to better the country, and in September 2025, he launched his new party Yashar! ahead of the elections.
Eisenkot’s party has been gaining support in recent polls, rising as a top competitor within the opposition bloc challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party ahead of elections expected no later than October.
Eisenkot still has not opened boxes containing belongings of killed son
Recalling the loss of his son, Eisenkot explained that a week after Gal was killed, he was presented with what were called “blue boxes” that contained Gal’s belongings.
“I still haven’t opened them,” Eisenkot said, adding that he was putting off doing so.
He also said that on Monday, he would be presented with the investigation into Gal’s death in Gaza.
“Until now, I postponed it. I think most families have already seen such investigations. Naturally, you want to know exactly what happened,” he explained.
“I spoke with the people who were with him, wounded soldiers, and those who treated him in the field, and that was enough for me.”
“Still, tomorrow morning [Monday], as was scheduled some time ago, they will present the official military investigation,” Eisenkot said, adding that he would be with his eldest son and that the rest of his family did not want to see the details.
“The falling of comrades and going to bereaved families and funerals was always the hardest part of military service,” said the former IDF chief of staff.
“I served 41 years, most of the time commanding combat units, and I had to go to many homes of subordinates and friends [who lost loved ones]. Unfortunately, in recent years, I’ve also been to the funerals of family members.” Two of Eisenkot’s nephews were also killed in the war.
His nephew, Sgt. Maor Cohen Eisenkot, 19, fell in battle in fighting in Gaza just one day after the loss of Eisenkot’s son.
Another nephew of Eisenkot, Capt. Yogev Pazy, a platoon commander with the Kfir Brigade’s Nahshon Battalion, was later killed in November 2024, in combat in northern Gaza.
Speaking about the day that he lost his son, the former chief of staff said that he had been visiting the area. “I looked up and saw the location of his [Gal’s] battalion in the fighting in Jabalya. About 40 minutes later, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nadav Padan, who was attached to the division, entered and informed me that Gal had been killed while I was visiting that same fighting division.
“I then called my eldest son, updated him, and asked that no one enter the house until I arrived, because I wanted to inform the family. And that’s what happened.”
Eisenkot said in the interview that after the loss of his son, he was “mainly searching for meaning amid this heavy price, so that we will be worthy of it, as a family and as a country.”