Staggering 12,500 Israeli soldiers to be classified as disabled

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
5 Jan 2024 11:31
35 Shares

A Ynet report reveals the astonishing number of underreported casualties by the Israeli occupation's military command.

An Israeli occupation reserve soldier sits at a hospital bed at the "Sheba" Hospital's rehabilitation division, in occupied Palestine, on December 18, 2023. (AP)

At least 12,500 Israeli occupation soldiers will be added to the list of disabled troops, a report conducted by the Israeli Ynet news website revealed on Friday.

In what the outlet described as a "gloomy forecast", the Israeli occupation's list of injured soldiers will increase by more than 20%, according to officials in the Security Ministry's Rehabilitation Division. Although the official number of injured soldiers, since October 7, is around 2,300 injured troops, the report sheds light on the staggering toll of military casualties, which has been kept hidden. Additionally, Ynet confirmed that the number of moderate and light injuries is rarely ever recognized in official announcements.

According to the outlet, an independent company conducted an assessment at the Ministry's request. It indicates that a "conservative and cautious estimate" suggests that around 12,500 soldiers would be legally recognized as disabled. However, the total number of requests for recognition is expected to reach an astonishing 20,000.

Such numbers were described by Ynet as markers of "a national event of a historical magnitude," which the occupation has not known since its inception.

The outlet extensively discussed the drawbacks resulting from such a high number of newly disabled people within the Israeli settler communities, shedding light on the heavy socioeconomic costs that will be incurred, as a result of the phenomenon.

Currently, the Rehabilitation Division deals with around 60,000 disabled Israeli soldiers, meaning that it will experience a 20.83% increase in the number of patients. So far, 3,400 soldiers have been recognized as disabled since October 7.

The influx of thousands of newly added patients necessitates a commensurate expansion in the Division's workforce. Additionally, the heightened demand for medical equipment, increased medical staff, and prosthetics will incur additional expenses, calling for a supplementary budget to meet the expanded requirements.

Palestinian Resistance officials have recurrently discussed the underreporting of Israeli military casualties, which currently stands at 509 killed and a few thousand injured. The Ynet report adds to growing evidence, affirming the claims made by Resistance leaders regarding a large number of casualties incurred by the Israeli occupation amid its multi-flanked aggression on the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

Furthermore, the news adds to a growing number of crises experienced by the Israeli occupation due to its ongoing genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, which includes a wide-ranging economic downturn, tens of thousands of settlers dispersed from their colonial outposts, internal political strife, and multi-faceted insecurity.