Alwaght- A considerable number of Israeli soldiers returning from Gaza war are struggling with suicide problems. This is confirmed by many Hebrew media, and even the American ones, and recently a new report on the suicide of the Israeli military personnel was published.
CNN in a report sheds light on the fate of the 40-years-old Eliran Mizrahi, the father of four children who was deployed to Gaza after October 7. Family of this reservist told CNN that he was another man after return from the battleground. The report suggests that six months after deployment to Gaza, he returned home and struggled with Post Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is said that he committed suicide before his new date for redeployment.
The Israeli military has also confirmed that thousands of soldiers are suffering from PTSD or mental illness resulting from the trauma they endured during the Gaza war.
An Israeli army doctor who served in Gaza for four months and who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue told CNN: “Many of us are very afraid of being sent back to war in Gaza. Many of us don’t trust the political authorities right now.”
Aharon Bergman, a professor of political science at King’s College London who served in the Israeli army for six years, told the BBC that the Gaza war was unlike any of Israel’s previous wars in terms of intensity, civilian casualties and killings. Bergman said what you see in Gaza are bodies being driven over by bulldozers and rubble, and the images are truly shocking, even for Israeli soldiers themselves.
Increasing number of military personnel suicides
According to the Israeli Ministry of Health, annually over 500 in Israel take their lives and over, 6,000 attempt suicide. The ministry adds that official figures can be 23 percent less than the real figures and the number of unreported suicides could be higher.
However, what is now more common than ordinary suicides in Israel is military suicide, as the suicide rate among the Israeli military has increased at an unprecedented rate since the start of the war on Gaza. According to the Italian website Inside Over, between 2023 and 2024, 38 suicides were recorded, of which 28 occurred after the start of the war.
This is while the number of suicides among the Israeli military personnel was 14 in 2022 and only 11 in 2021. The fact is that the exceptional call-up of 300,000 reservists has exposed them to excessive psychological stress and violence in Gaza and the border with Lebanon, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among the military.
Israeli media confirm that at least 11 reservists have committed suicide due to mental health problems since the start of the war. The Hebrew-language website Walla also reported that the number of suicides related to war-related symptoms has increased to 45.
A UN expert has also said that some young Israeli soldiers are psychologically broken after being confronted with “the reality of Palestinians being killed amid the rubble of Gaza.”
Why do Israeli soldiers commit suicide?
It seems that protracted war has exposed the Israeli military to extreme mental conditions and in many cases they either rebel or commit suicide. Last week, for example, Israeli media reported that a number of forces of 943TH Unit of the Nahal Brigade clashed, leaving one extremely injured. Witnesses said that as the fight escalated, one of the soldiers hit his comrade in the head with a gun and a coffee pot, knocking him unconscious.
The Hebrew website Shumrim reported that the stories of regular and reserve Israeli soldiers who have committed suicide since the start of the bloody Gaza war on October 7, 2023, have remained hidden until today. Professor Yossi Levi-Blaz, head of the Suicide Research Center at Ruppin University, warned in this regard that given the suicide rate in the Israeli army, a large wave of suicides is coming among the army.
The report, citing Sherry Denilz, an Israeli psychiatrist, adds that when the army forces engaged in intense fighting in Gaza, their hearts race and adrenaline rushes through their veins and then when they return home from the battle, they reflect about action they have done, they get shocked, and then reach a stage of destruction.
