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Former IDF chief’s son killed in Gaza fighting as Israel presses forward with costly counteroffensive

(JTA) – The son of an Israeli government minister and former military chief of staff was killed in combat in Gaza on Thursday, as Israel continued its war against Hamas, killing some of the terror group’s senior officials amid mounting civilian and troop casualties.
Gal Meir Eisenkot, 25, the son of former Israel Defense Forces chief Gadi Eisenkot, died in Gaza while serving as a reservist in a commando unit. Another soldier, reservist paratrooper Jonathan David Deitch, was declared dead at the same time, bringing the number of Israeli troops who have been killed in the ground invasion of Gaza to 89.
The elder Eisenkot led the IDF from 2015 to 2019. He is a member of the National Unity party led by Benny Gantz, who preceded Eisenkot as IDF chief of staff. Eisenkot is a member of Israel’s emergency wartime government and is an observer in the war cabinet directing the Gaza campaign.
In Israel, where most Jewish 18-year-olds across social and economic sectors are conscripted into the army and many serve in reserve duty for years afterward, few are immune from the possible consequences of the war. More than 300,000 reservists were called up two months ago for Israel’s current campaign, and its casualties have spanned a range of ages and backgrounds.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “heartbroken” in a public statement to Gadi Eisenkot.
“We weep with you. We embrace you,” Netanyahu said. “The government of Israel and the citizens of Israel mourn together with you. Our heroes did not fall in vain. We will continue to fight until victory.”
Gantz said, “On the eve of Hannukah, Gal’s light was extinguished.”
He continued, “In this terrible moment, I know that the strength of you and yours will withstand the loss. We will be with you.”
The casualties occurred as Israel is deepening its campaign in southern Gaza, which began nearly a week ago following a seven-day ceasefire with Hamas. The IDF is now focusing its firepower on the area surrounding the city of Khan Younis, where Hamas leaders, including its Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar, live.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, began the war on Oct. 7 with an invasion of Israel in which terrorists killed 1,200 and took some 240 hostages, the majority of whom are still in captivity. Israel has vowed to depose the terror group and has responded with extensive airstrikes as well as a ground invasion that began in Gaza’s north and has shifted south.
The IDF also said Thursday that it had killed two senior Hamas operatives, Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi and Ahmed Aiush, in a recent airstrike. Rantisi was responsible for intelligence operations in Gaza and was involved in the planning of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and Aiush was a senior intelligence operative, the IDF said.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 17,000 people have been killed in the war. The figure is not verifiable and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, or those killed by misfired Palestinian rockets.
Israeli authorities said that Hamas has continued to fire rockets from civilian areas, as the IDF attempted to evacuate civilians in Gaza from combat zones. A significant proportion of the Gazan population has been displaced by the fighting, and humanitarian groups say many are lacking essential supplies.
The growing death toll has led to a rising tide of calls among international leaders and progressive activists for a ceasefire, which Israel rejects because it would leave Hamas in power. The United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, on Wednesday invoked a rarely used article of the U.N. charter to appeal for a ceasefire, warning of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen lashed Guterres for the move, saying on social media that the U.N. leader was a “danger to world peace” and that his call for a ceasefire “constitutes support of the Hamas terrorist organization and an endorsement of the murder of the elderly, the abduction of babies and the rape of women.”
Also Thursday, an Israeli civilian was killed by a Hezbollah anti-tank missile in an agricultural area near the community of Mattat near the Lebanese border, Hebrew media reports said. The area has seen sporadic strikes between Hezbollah forces and Israeli troops since the outbreak of the war.
The IDF said it had launched airstrikes against Hezbollah “terror infrastructure” in Lebanon in response. On Thursday night, rocket alert sirens sounded in northern Israeli communities.
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The post Former IDF chief’s son killed in Gaza fighting as Israel presses forward with costly counteroffensive appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Trump Hosts Qatari Prime Minister After Israeli Attack in Doha

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
US President Donald Trump held dinner with the Qatari prime minister in New York on Friday, days after US ally Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an attack in Qatar on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing US-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict. The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge.
Trump expressed annoyance about the strike in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sought to assure the Qataris that such attacks would not happen again.
Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani were joined by a top Trump adviser, US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Great dinner with POTUS. Just ended,” Qatar’s deputy chief of mission, Hamah Al-Muftah, said on X.
The White House confirmed the dinner had taken place but offered no details.
The session followed an hour-long meeting that al-Thani had at the White House on Friday with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
A source briefed on the meeting said they discussed Qatar’s future as a mediator in the region and defense cooperation in the wake of the Israeli strikes against Hamas in Doha.
Trump said he was unhappy with Israel’s strike, which he described as a unilateral action that did not advance US or Israeli interests.
Washington counts Qatar as a strong Gulf ally. Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.
Al-Thani blamed Israel on Tuesday for trying to sabotage chances for peace but said Qatar would not be deterred from its role as mediator.
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Trump Urges NATO Countries to Halt Russian Oil Purchases

US President Donald Trump gestures during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Aug. 26, 2025. Photo: Jonathan Ernst via Reuters Connect
i24 News – US President Donald Trump issued a letter to NATO nations on Saturday, impressing upon them to stop purchasing Russian oil and impose major sanctions on the regime of Vladimir Putin to end its war in Ukraine.
“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia,” the message read.
“Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are. Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”
Trump’s post comes after the recent flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, widely perceived an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland intercepted the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incident and Russia’s motives by saying it “could have been a mistake.”
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Netanyahu Says Getting Rid of Hamas Chiefs in Qatar Would Remove Main Obstacle to Gaza Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the US Independence Day reception, known as the annual “Fourth of July” celebration, hosted by Newsmax, in Jerusalem, Aug. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that getting rid of Hamas chiefs living in Qatar would remove the main obstacle to releasing all hostages and ending the war in Gaza.
Israel on Tuesday targeted the Hamas leadership in Doha.