Israel’s exhausted soldiers complicate plans for Gaza assault

JERUSALEM – Israel is preparing to call up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers for its Gaza City offensive, but military officials say it is not clear how many of them will return to the fight after nearly two years of grinding war.

Over the past few months, an increasing number of Israeli reserve soldiers have not been showing up for military service. Some cite exhaustion, as well as the need to save strained marriages or floundering careers. Others say they are increasingly disillusioned with the war.

The rising discontent in the ranks threatens to complicate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to take control of Gaza City in an effort to decisively rout militant group Hamas. The military has said it plans to call up an additional 60,000 reservists and extend the service of 20,000 more.

Besides the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces are also still fighting on several other fronts: Israeli soldiers now patrol parts of southern Lebanon and Syria, on top of mounting major incursions into Palestinian cities in the West Bank.

The Israeli military did not provide hard numbers on how many reservists have dropped out, making it difficult to assess the scale of the phenomenon.

In May, a senior Israeli military official told a parliamentary committee that while there had been some attrition, most reservists were still coming. Four soldiers who spoke to The New York Times in the last few months said their units were still motivated to continue fighting.

But around a dozen other officers and soldiers described depleted and exhausted units, with at least two saying that between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of their reservist comrades were not turning up for duty.

Others said they had dropped out, believing that the war was no longer just.

Israel broadly conscripts Jewish Israelis after high school, although it makes a much-criticised exemption for the country’s ultra-Orthodox minority. The military relies heavily on reservists to form up to two-thirds of the overall force.

While some Israeli military planners argue that most reservists still answer when called, others now worry that the shortfall will make completing the operation more difficult.

“We keep trying to squeeze out everything we can without real strategic planning,” said Mr Omer Dank, an Israeli military analyst who serves in the air force reserves.

“The current model is unsustainable. The army is exhausted.” NYTIMES