Injured Israeli soldiers deliberately kept under the radar: Haaretz

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
28 Nov 2023 12:31
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One official from an Israeli hospital tells Haaretz that injured soldiers have been given strict orders not to answer any questions posited by the medical staff.

Israeli soldiers carry a soldier on a stretcher during a drill, Lebanese-Palestinian borders, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023 (AP)

Haaretz newspaper reported, citing the IOF (Israeli occupation forces) that around 1000 Israeli soldiers have been injured since the onset of the agression against Gaza, after refraining from disclosing any statistics.

The Haaretz health affairs correspondent reported that 202 soldiers have suffered serious injuries since the aggression started.

The IOF had initially refrained from disclosing any data on the military casualties. The IOF only made a statement in this regard at the request of Haaretz newspaper shortly before the report was published.

The IOF statement confirmed Haaretz's estimates detailing that "202 soldiers were seriously injured since the beginning of the war, and about 320 have sustained moderate injuries, in addition to 470 with mild injuries."

The statement added that 28 of the soldiers who sustained serious injuries, 183 of those who sustained moderate injuries, and 74 of those who suffered mild injuries are still hospitalized.

It's notable that this statement by the IOF has been exclusively given to Haaretz, the report noted that the IOF has yet to make any official statements in regard to the military casualties; the IOF spokesperson has yet to address the subject of military casualties in his recurrent update announcements.

Unprecedented Israeli hush-up

The report points out that the policy of restricting the disclosure of data on casualties is unprecedented; this was not the case in previous wars when the IOF would announce the number of casualties detailing info about their combat activities and their recovery.

A report published on a webpage backlinked to the Israeli Ministry of Health alleges that the wounded Israelis administered into the hospitals since the onset of the war have amounted to 9038 (including both settlers and soldiers) 129 of whom had passed away after being hospitalized.

Conveniently, the Ministry of Health report remarks that it is hard to tell how many soldiers there were among those hospitalized.

Haaretz reported that informed medical sources had communicated their suspicions about injured Israeli soldiers being deliberately kept "under the radar": adding that the Ministry of Health and hospital administrations are prohibited from disclosing info about soldiers without the approval of the IOF spokesman.

The medical sources told Haaretz that they have never dealt with similar restrictions during previous wars.

An official from one of the Israeli hospital administrations, described by the newspaper to be a "seasoned" worker in the medical field, told Haaretz that the representatives of the IOF spokesperson follow the injured soldiers more closely than the medical staff. The official added that the hospitalized soldiers were given strict orders not to answer any questions posited by the medical staff at the hospital.

Reflecting on the absurdity of the situation, the official said "We hear reports of fierce fighting on the news, and then the wounded start flooding in [into the hospitals]. but you never hear a word about the casualties in the news."

Underreporting numbers?

It is worth noting that the numbers given by Hezbollah and al-Qassam Brigades surpass the "officially" declared count of Israeli soldiers killed in the operations. "Israel" has reported six soldiers and one settler killed on the Lebanese border, while Hezbollah affirmed on November 1 that at least 120 IOF soldiers were killed or wounded in action north of occupied Palestine since October 7. Similarly, Hamas repeatedly challenges "Israel" to disclose the actual number of its casualties.