More than a year into the Gaza war, the Israeli army is running out of reserves and struggling to recruit troops as it opens a new front in Lebanon.
According to the army, about 300,000 reserve soldiers have been called up since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, 18 percent of them men over 40 who should have been exempted.
Military service is mandatory for Israeli men and women from age 18, although several exemptions apply.
Israel is waging a multi-front war against Hamas in Gaza and Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Since the army began its ground offensive in Gaza on October 27 last year, it has lost 367 soldiers in the operation, while 37 soldiers have been killed in Lebanon since Israel began a ground campaign there on September 30.
The duration of reserve duty has been extended, and some reservists complain of being unable to lead their normal lives for six consecutive months.
“We are drowning,” reservist Ariel Serri-Levy said in a social media post shared thousands of times.
He said he had called four times since the October 7 attack and called on those who want Israel to “remain in Lebanon and Gaza”.
“We have to end this war because we don’t have soldiers,” he said, adding that while he still believed in serving one’s country, “the concessions have become too many”.
“Added to the fatigue and moral exhaustion is the fact that I have lost my job,” another reservist and father of two told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Many freelance workers had to close their shops due to the war, even though the government guaranteed a minimum income for reserved workers.
“The collective is still above the individual but the cost is too high for my family,” said the reservist, who said he spent about six months in Gaza this year.
ultra-conservative exemption
The ongoing war has intensified public debate over the drafting of ultra-Orthodox Jews, many of whom are exempted from military service.
According to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), the Ultra-Orthodox account for 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, representing approximately 1.3 million people. According to the Army, about 66,000 people of enlistment age have been exempted.
Under a rule adopted at the time of Israel’s creation in 1948, when it applied to only 400 people, the Ultra-Orthodox were historically exempted from military service if they devoted themselves to the study of sacred Jewish texts. We do.
In June, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the draft of yeshiva (seminary) students, after ruling that the government could not maintain the exemption “without an adequate 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 at the end of the year.
Aryeh Deri, leader of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas, said he hoped to “solve the problem of the draft” for seminary students.
‘Lighten the load’
Nearly 2,000 wives of reservists from the Religious Zionist movement, which links a religious lifestyle with military participation, signed an open letter calling for “lightening the burden for those who serve.”
“There is no contradiction between Torah study and military service, both go hand in hand,” academic Tehilla Elitzur, mother and wife of a reservist, told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
Six men who volunteered to serve despite being eligible for immunity were killed in combat between 22 and 28 October, including a father of 10 children.
Rabbi David Zenou, 52, who fought for 250 days this year, including several weeks in Lebanon, said: “It is an honor to serve my country, and I will continue to do it as long as I can.
“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.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
