“Israel Today” newspaper reported that the occupation army established in recent weeks a new battalion of veteran soldiers over the age of 40, due to its need to secure the necessary manpower.
The Israeli newspaper said that the soldiers who joined the new unit had previously been exempted from service in the occupation army.
According to Israel Today, the battalion was named “Bari” in reference to the settlement that was stormed by the Palestinian resistance on October 7, and the battalion will be led by former Knesset member Yoaz Handel.
She explained that about 600 soldiers and officers who had completed their reserve service and had their exemption cancelled, were recruited into the Bari Battalion.
The newspaper reported that the battalion’s members had already begun their training, and it did not rule out that the battalion would receive an operational mission in the near future, perhaps even in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
During the Israeli war on Gaza, the occupation army suffered heavy losses amounting to more than 615 dead, 3,300 injured, and two thousand disabled soldiers, according to its official figures, in addition to the refusal of a large number of Israelis to join it.
With the length of the war, the expansion of its scope, and the great losses it suffered at the hands of the resistance, the occupation army seeks to compensate for the shortfall in its ranks by resorting to recruiting veterans and moving toward recruiting religious Jews known as “Haredim.”