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Occupied Jerusalem- In the midst of the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army finds itself facing unprecedented challenges, which go beyond the battlefields to the depth of the internal fronts, not only in terms of equipment and plans, but also in the psychological and human structure of the soldiers themselves.
As a severe crisis in the manpower prompted the army to make exceptional decisions, including summoning soldiers with post -traumatic disorders and persons suffering from permanent psychological disabilities, to participate again in combat operations, at a time when the army is witnessing a clear erosion in its human and moral capabilities.
Israeli press reports, including a report published by the Haaretz newspaper, reveal serious psychological repercussions among the soldiers, amid high suicides and psychological collapse.
Suicide cases
According to the newspaper, until the end of 2024, at least 35 suicide cases were recorded among the soldiers since the outbreak of the war on October 7, 2023, while the Israeli Ministry of Security ranked about 9,000 psychologically handicapped soldiers since the beginning of operations, which highlights the high human cost of war.
According to the data of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the rehabilitation department treats about 78,000 wounded from different wars, including more than 26 thousand suffering from psychological injuries, including about 11 thousand cases of post -trauma disorder, and since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, about 17 thousand new wounded, including nearly 9 thousand people with psychological disabilities.
The Israeli army has become stuck between the pressures of political and military expectations and the depletion of human and psychological forces, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, as it faces escalating challenges, most notably the lack of equipment, the decline in the number of soldiers, and the escalation of evasion of service, especially between the Haredi, which raises doubts about his ability to fight a new extensive war in Gaza.
Analysts have reviewed the psychological impacts of the war on Israeli soldiers, and the implications of this on the army’s performance and its willingness to take on new rounds of fighting, in light of worsening crises and escalating strategic risks.
Deep crisis
The investigative journalist in the Haaretz newspaper, Tom Livinson, revealed shocking data that reflects the depth of the crisis experienced by the Israeli army in terms of manpower and psychological, in light of the continuation of the war in the Gaza Strip.
According to the investigation, the army was forced due to the severe shortage of fighters to summon soldiers from reserves, some of whom suffer from post -traumatic disorders and even permanent mental disabilities, which caused human tragedies, including certain suicide cases.
Levinson pointed out that the Israeli army has recruited soldiers with mental illness in combat units, without conducting accurate health assessments, fearing that tests will reveal a widespread crisis in the ranks of the reserves. As a result, hundreds of injured people were re -recruited despite the army’s awareness of their seriousness, and one of them said: “I am in danger … I may harm myself or others.”
Levinson explained that these accumulated data foretells an extended and complex crisis in the Israeli army, not limited to the combat front, but rather destroying the psychological internal structure of the military establishment, and offering great question marks about the army’s ability to continue in a long war, amid silent bleeding in lives and minds.
He cited a funeral last April, when hundreds of military cemetery “Kiryat Shaul” gathered in Tel Aviv for the funeral of a military funeral, which looked at first glance, like other frequent funerals since the war began, but the soldier was not killed in the battle but committed suicide, and his name was not announced or allowed media coverage, and his condition is one of several suicides that the army refused so far.
This incident highlights, according to Levinson, on a structural defect in the coordination between the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli army, which does not until today has an updated database that includes all psychologists who are subject to treatment in the Ministry’s rehabilitation department, which makes it easy for the injured soldiers without the knowledge of the military units to be re -called.
Dangerous trap
In an analytical article published under the title “Darib 2025: Where is the fighting in Gaza heading?”, Investigative journalist and military analyst Ronin Bergman in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper dealt with the state of confusion within the Israeli army, in light of the increasing awareness of his leaders that the expansion of military operations in Gaza will not lead to the liberation of Israeli prisoners, nor to the defeat of Hamas.
Bergman believes that the army is stuck in a multi -faceted “trap”. On the one hand, there is an Israeli audience who no longer realizes why the war resumed, and it feels the loss of direction and the goal, and on the other hand, the families of the prisoners who fear the increasing risks of escalatory steps on the lives of their children stand.
While the political level, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, shows unconditional support for the army, Bergman suggests that this support may be driven by a desire to hold the army later responsible for any failure or collapse, as the army continues to implement a plan to expand the war, despite the increasing doubts within its leaders about the feasibility of this escalation.
Bergman describes the situation as the most dangerous “trap” experienced by the army. After a year and a half of the fighting without resolving, the new leadership is pushing the “creeping occupation” of Gaza in search of an unclear achievement.
Bergman warns that the military incursion may lead to Israel to a complete occupation of Gaza, a option that most senior officers reject as a security burden, and quotes an intelligence official that the army informed the leadership that “the restoration of the prisoners is alive and will only take place by negotiating with Hamas.”
Increased chaos
The military analyst in the newspaper “Haaretz” Amos Harel believes that Israel was drifting towards increasing chaos in Gaza, and that leaving this path depends on external interference, especially from Washington, while Netanyahu benefits politically, the risks escalate the life of “hostages” and soldiers and Israel’s international status.
Although the new chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, suggested, last March, a plan for a wide maneuver that includes 6 teams and complete occupation of the sector, Harel says that “the current military moves remain limited.”
On the other hand, the military analyst adds that the air strikes are escalating in preparation for the so -called “Gideon vehicles”, amid security warnings of an expected humanitarian catastrophe within 10 days, and the increasing possibilities of international involvement and sanctions if US President Donald Trump does not interfere with the escalation brake.
