Israeli rehab department says it treated more than 10K troops

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
14 Aug 2024 11:59

The Israeli Rehabilitation Department expects that it will be treating 100,000 troops and veterans in 2030, half of which will be suffering from PTSD.

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Israeli soldiers wounded in battles with the Resistance during the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood in a rehabilitation center near occupied Yafa, in occupied Palestine, on December 18, 2023 (AP)

The Israeli Rehabilitation Department in the Israeli Security Ministry revealed that it has treated over 10,000 cases from the occupation's military since October 7, 2023.

According to the Israeli Military Radio's military correspondent, the department is expected to treat nearly 1,000 new cases every month.

The correspondent said that 35% of those treated have expressed mental health complications or suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while more than a quarter have been mainly treated for mental health complications.

Moreover, the correspondent, citing the Rehabilitation Department, said that 68% of those who sought treatment were Israeli reservists.

Earlier on August 9, the Israeli regime's military command released a detailed toll of deaths and injuries that its forces experienced since October 7, 2023. At the time, it said that 4,284 soldiers and officers had been injured in battles since the previously mentioned date.

War on Gaza, Lebanon comes at a hefty cost

Discrepancies persist between various official statements and reports from Israeli media, as the Israeli security establishment often obscures the actual casualty figures. Once again, the fact comes to light, as the reported number of treated soldiers by the Rehabilitation Department, even when discounting non-mental health cases, remains several thousand higher than that of the military.

It is also worth noting that the 10,056 soldiers mentioned in the Israeli Rehabilitation Department's remarks only include the number of soldiers that have received rehabilitation treatment from the department itself.

At the time of the occupation military's announcement, Israeli news website Ynet's correspondent, Chen Artzi Sror, pointed to the rising number of deaths and critical injuries among Israeli troops in the past few weeks on the Northern Front and in the Gaza Strip. Sror said that the current situation within Israeli communities does not allow the occupation to absorb "thousands of physically and mentally wounded back into the community."

The mounting injuries and mental health complications among Israelis constitute a real challenge to the Israeli regime, as thousands become dependent on others for daily functions and the number of experienced battle-ready personnel substantially shrinks. Rehabilitation centers are already treating 62,000 wounded Israeli veterans from previous wars, according to The Times of Israel.

The news website said that the department forecasts that by 2030, it will be treating around 100,000 Israeli soldiers and veterans, half of which are expected to suffer from PTSD.

These effects will not only have short-term effects on the performance of Israeli occupation forces but will also have long-term reverberating effects on the settler-colonial project as a whole. This becomes especially true when considering the effects of an Israeli war with Lebanon, as the thousands of troops treated by military rehab centers will exponentially rise in intense confrontations with Hezbollah.