Jerusalem:
More than a year into the Gaza war, Israeli army reservists are exhausted and struggling to recruit troops even as it opens a new front in Lebanon.
About 300,000 reservists have been called up since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, according to the military, 18 percent of whom are men over 40 who should have been exempt.
Military service is compulsory for Israeli men and women from age 18, although several exemptions apply.
Israel is fighting a multi-front war against Hamas in Gaza and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Since the army began ground operations in Gaza on October 27 last year, 367 of its soldiers have been killed in the campaign, while 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since Israel began ground operations there on September 30. have been killed.
The period of reserve duty has been extended, and some reservists complain that they cannot go about their normal lives for six months straight.
“We’re drowning,” reservist Ariel Seri Levy shared thousands of times in a social media post.
He said he had received four calls since the Oct. 7 attack calling out those who wanted Israel to “stay in Lebanon and Gaza.”
“We have to end this war because we don’t have troops,” he said, adding that while he still believes in serving his country, “the concessions have become too great”.
Another reservist and father of two told AFP on condition of anonymity that “exhaustion and moral exhaustion include the fact that I lost my job”.
Many freelance workers have had to close shop because of the war, even as the government guarantees a minimum income for conservationists.
“The collective still trumps the individual but the cost to my family is too high,” said the reservist, who spent about six months in Gaza this year.
Ultra-Orthodox Exemption
The ongoing war has fueled public debate over the draft of ultra-Orthodox Jews, many of whom are exempt from military service.
According to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population is ultra-Orthodox, representing about 1.3 million people. About 66,000 people of draft age are exempt, according to the military.
Under a rule adopted at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, when it applied to only 400 individuals, the ultra-Orthodox have historically been exempted from military service if they volunteered to study holy Jewish texts. dedicate to
In June, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the draft of yeshiva (madrasa) students after ruling that the government could not maintain immunity “without an appropriate legal framework.”
Ultra-Orthodox political parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition called for such a framework ahead of a vote on the budget later in the year.
Arya Deri, leader of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas, said he hoped the “draft issue would be resolved” for seminary students.
‘lighten the burden’
About 2,000 wives of reservists from the religious Zionist movement, which links a religious lifestyle with military service, signed an open letter calling for “lightening the burden of those who serve.” .
“There is no contradiction between Torah study and military service, the two go hand in hand,” academic Tehila Elitzor, mother and wife of a reservist, told Yediot Ahronoth newspaper.
Six people who had volunteered despite being eligible for exemption were killed in fighting between October 22 and 28, including a father of 10.
David Zeno, a 52-year-old rabbi who fought for 250 days this year, including several weeks in Lebanon, said: “It’s an honor to serve my country, and I’ll do it as long as I can. I will stay
“Above all, we must not forget that this is a war and we are short of soldiers,” the father of seven and grandfather of six told AFP.
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)