Reports from Israel stated that the reserve forces are suffering from a severe shortage of soldiers, as Israeli Channel 12 reported that army reserve units have begun searching for volunteers to fight in Gaza through advertisements on the “WhatsApp” application.
The channel added that the announcements searching for volunteers for the army come in light of a severe shortage of soldiers in reserve units, as the war enters its ninth month.
She confirmed that soldiers in reserve units in Gaza and the north expressed the difficulty of maintaining their strength throughout this time.
The channel quoted a reserve soldier as saying, “There is a state of great exhaustion among the soldiers, and great pressure from families and workplaces.”
A reserve officer said that with the beginning of the war, the attendance rate reached 120%, while it currently only reaches 70%.
Earlier, an investigation conducted by the Israeli newspaper Calcalist revealed “severe dissatisfaction” prevailing among Israeli army reserve soldiers due to the long period of service, about 9 months after the start of the Gaza war.
As part of its investigation, the newspaper met many reserve soldiers participating in the war on Gaza, who complained about the long period of service, working long hours during the day, and discrimination between soldiers in shouldering the burdens.
These soldiers warned that this matter was exhausting for them, pointing out that it also caused psychological, marital, and other problems that prolonged their working lives.
The Israeli Institute for National Security Studies, affiliated with Tel Aviv University, estimated that at the beginning of the war, 300,000 reserve soldiers were recruited to participate in the war.
The legitimacy of the General Staff
In a related context, Israeli Channel 12 said that arguments and quarrels prevailed at a meeting held by Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy with a number of Israeli army generals.
The channel added, citing sources, that generals questioned the legitimacy of the General Staff’s management of the Gaza war, despite its cause of the October 7 failure.
An army general stated during the meeting that the problem was not the failure on October 7, but rather because since that day the Israeli army had not succeeded.
During the meeting, army generals criticized Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy and questioned what they called “command responsibility.”
On October 7, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and launched an attack on the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip, killing hundreds of Israelis and capturing others, in response to the ongoing Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.
