'A big loss for everyone': Friends, family mourn Quebec man killed by Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Friends and family members are mourning the death of Jacob Flickinger, a Canadian military veteran and father to a one-year-old son who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, amid calls for an investigation into the attack.

Friends and family members are mourning the death of Jacob Flickinger, a Canadian military veteran and father to a one-year-old son who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, amid calls for an investigation into the attack.

Flickinger, 33, and six other workers with the World Central Kitchen aid organization were killed in the strikes on April 1 after their convoy had just delivered food to a warehouse in central Gaza and was driving away, the group said.

When his friend, David Gilbert, got a call from Flickinger's partner telling him that he had been killed, he didn't believe it at first.

"I think it was the day after, when I see his face on the news that I really realized that my friend is dead. I was surprised because, you know, I was thinking this kind of man was, like, immortal," Gilbert said in an interview with CTV News.

He also had a hard time believing it was true because Flickinger had told him that he was operating in a safe zone inside Gaza.

Gilbert said he is remembering him as "a great human, a man of honour" who was a role model for his young son and always wanted to help out. He grew up without a father in his life, so Flickinger was a father figure to him when he was younger, he said.