With suicide of six soldiers, mental crisis strikes Israeli occupation army

OCCUPIED PALESTINE, Nov. 24 (YPA) – The Israeli newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” has revealed that six Zionist soldiers from the “army,” who participated in the war on both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, committed suicide in recent months.

However, this number is “partial” for the number of soldiers who committed suicide, as “the army refuses to publish the full number of these, or those who attempted suicide,” according to the newspaper.

The newspaper indicated that “exposure to horrors and harsh conditions puts an end to the lives of many soldiers (by pushing them towards suicide),” warning that “the extent of the mental crisis will become clear after the end of the war.”

In the same context, Yedioth Ahronoth quoted a high-ranking military source as revealing that “there has been an increase in the number of soldiers seeking help in the field of mental health, including in the mental health clinics opened by the army.”

The military source indicated to the newspaper that this happened “in recent weeks, especially in the last two weeks, when the pace of fighting in the Gaza Strip decreased and many forces left Lebanon.”

He pointed out that the number of these soldiers is “in the thousands, most of whom were recently evacuated,” stressing that there will be larger numbers to deal with later, as some have been diagnosed with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the long war, “which lasted 14 months, not one month, like most previous wars that Israel fought.”

Also, according to what the newspaper reported, various estimates in the “army” indicate that about 15% of the regular fighters who left the Gaza Strip and were psychologically treated were unable to return to combat.

YPA