November 12 | Israel tightens its grip on Hamas fighters in Gaza amid calls for a ceasefire

An Israeli tank commander from the country’s Druze minority, who was killed in combat in Gaza, should serve as a symbol to all Israelis that in order to defeat darkness the country must unite, the soldier’s father, the highest-ranking military officer to be killed so far, told Fox News Digital.

Lieutenant Colonel Salman Habka was hailed as a hero following Hamas’ surprise mass terror attack in Israel on October 7 after he captured two tanks and headed into battle with thousands of Palestinian terrorists before his commanders even realized what was happening. Less than four weeks later, on November 2, Habka, 33, was killed in an exchange of fire by a Hamas sniper as Israeli forces deepened their ground incursion into Gaza.

Stories of heroic actions committed by Israelis to stop Hamas’ terrorist atrocities have put the spotlight on some of the country’s minority communities who have also played their part in preventing further terrorism. Israel’s non-Jewish population is approximately 20%, including Muslims, Christians, and Druze, and it is an esoteric monotheistic religion that includes elements of all other Abrahamic religions and philosophies.

“On the morning of October 7, we had a family party planned,” Imad Habka, Habka’s father, told Fox News Digital from his home in the Druze village of Yanuh Gat in northern Israel. “I called him to check if things were still going but he told me he had to go back to his base immediately. When I asked him why, he just told me to turn on the TV.”

While the elder Habaka, like most other Israelis, was still trying to understand what was happening in southern Israel, along the border with the Gaza Strip, his son – already a decorated Israeli military commander – was rushing to his base in the Negev Desert to retrieve his tank.

The 60-year-old father said, describing Salman, a father of one, as a humble and respectable man: “He somehow understood what was happening, and even though he did not receive any orders from his commanders, he decided to get into his tank and head into battle.” A person who always does everything he can to help others.

Fox News’ Ruth Marks Eglash contributed to this report