Since Hamas Gunmen were still wild through military bases and villages in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, ITTAI Marinberg packed his bag, kissed his wife and two young girls by goodbye and headed for the fight.
He became one of about 300,000 Israeli reservists who were mobilized at the beginning of the war, serving 200 days in three combat tours in Gaza-S More expected this year to what has become a campaign on a multiple front across southern Lebanon, Syria and the occupied West Coast.
“We were told to prepare for five years of intensive fighting,” said his wife Chen Arbel Marinberg, who helped find a forum for a non -profit reserve to support tens of thousands of families like hers.
Given that Israel has renewed its offensive against Hamas, ITTai and thousands of other reservists of Israeli defense forces this week – some of which have been in uniform twice as long – now they are facing the appearance of the immediate return to war.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the new Idf chief Eyal Zamir threatened to monitor their air campaign in the gauze with a furious new offensive to the ground if Hamas refuses to release more Israeli hostages.
However, it is unclear how many more Israel’s armed forces can take. Much of his history, Israel decided to fight short and decisive wars, with most of the campaigns measured in days and weeks, to reduce the burden of reservists to call to increase the regular army.
Without the end in sight, defense analysts and reservists began to warn of growing exhaustion on combat forces, with jobs, families and lives that were put on hold.
They also point to the signs of disappointment with the goals of Netanyahu and his ultimate right cabinet, which excluded the end of the struggle despite the public pressure to make an agreement to bring the remaining hostages Hamas held.
“The first time [since the start of the war] There may be a chance that some reservists will not report the duty, “said Amos Harel, analyst of defense for the Haaretz newspaper and the author of the book on the Book of Civilian Relations.
“This could become a bigger problem if there is no consensus after the war.”
Zamir, a former commander of tanks who took over the army this month, warned, while in 2021 he was the deputy chief of IDF, against the progress of Israel according to a “smarter combat force depending on technology, air power and special forces.
He claimed that instead of the “critical mass” of the power to fight against what could be a “heavy, long and multiple campaign” in the future. Earlier this month he said, “2025. There will be years of war.”
In Israel, most Jewish men and women are obliged to apply to the army for two to three years at the age of 18. After that, many continue in reserves, with an estimated 450 000 potentially on standby for supplementing a permanent army of about 170,000 soldiers.
But before the current war, Chen said, the reservists are “the contract with the IDF was [to serve] 30 days a year ”.
According to IDF, over 800 soldiers were killed and about 6,000 injured since the beginning of the war, with some analysts claiming that the last figure is higher when it comes to mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The conflict took a devastating toll on the neighbors of Israel, with more than 48,000 people killed in Gaza, 4,000 in Lebanon, and about 1,000 on the west coast, according to local health authorities. Data include civilians and fighters.
Israeli military officials claim that another 10,000 soldiers – especially new armor and pedestrian brigades are needed – to better defend the boundaries of Israel and “indefinitely” hold tampons of zones within the neighboring territory.
However, analysts warn that such changes in the organizational structure of IDF will take time to develop. And plans to expand the army to counteract the greater challenge: the question of whether or not the record of young Ultra-Orthodoxy or not (Haredi) Jewish men.
The ultra-Orthodox, which make up about 14 percent of the population, have been exempted from the military service since the founding of Israel, a policy that faced growing resistance, even before October 7th. The Supreme Court considered that the vast majority of the Jewish Israeli public request that also serve.
Netanyahu, whose coalition depends Haredi Allies, it is clear that his government does not intend to forcibly state the ultra-Orthodox. Only a few hundred Haredi The men signed up last year, out of over 10,000 draft commands sent by IDF, according to official data.
According to a reservist forum, last November, about 80 percent of respondents said that their motivation for serving decreased since the beginning of the war due to a lack of recruitment of ultra-Orthodox and personal difficulties.
Benjamin, a married father of two who served for a month in the early war, said that even though he wanted to return to his duty, he could not.
“He would knock down the household,” he said. “My wife is not able to be alone with children and business [which I manage] He would close. “(Benjamin, like most interviewed reservists, refused to provide his last name.)
The IDF, which does not give figures to exhaustion, said in a statement that “there were no drastic changes in the rate of applications, and units fill their missions.”
Several reservists who spoke with the Financial Times said that, although it is rare for the reservist to leave his unit completely, it is now more likely to miss the call for training or operational duty for personal reasons.
One reserve officer was stationed for months near the border with Gaza, he said that the reporting rate for some reserve units became “less than half”.
This rough figure was confirmed by Harel, a defensive analyst, who added that a broader debate on the direction of war is likely to agree on anger.
Surveys show that more than 60 percent of Israelis want Netanyahu to conclude a contract with Hamas to bring back the remaining hostages, even if it means to end the war. However, the Prime Minister, under the pressure of his extremely right political allies, vowed that he would not stop fighting until Hamas eliminated.
The opposition parties and families with hostages say that escalation will threaten the lives of those still trapped in Gaza, claiming that the war is politicized to ensure the survival of Netanyahu’s coalition.
Netanyahu’s attempt last week to release the head of the domestic spy agency deepened domestic restlessness, reviving the fears of the Constitutional Crisis, which cited thousands of reservists before the attack on October 7 to suspend their service in protest.
Harel said that reservists can do this again if they feel “they are intended to sacrifice to achieve the true goals of the far right right of the renovation of the settlement in Gaza and the expulsion of all Palestinians, not just the destruction of Hamas and the return of hostages.”
In recent days, the air forces navigator and an intelligence clerk have said to suspend their spare service, and the latter said he would not participate in a war that is not in the “interests of the people of Israel”. Both are discharged.
However, however, they feel according to the premiere, most reservists say that they will continue to report on what they consider to be an existential battle.
David has long been discharged from spare duties when the war broke out, but voluntarily served six months in Gaza and another tour on the west coast.
He said that, although a quarter of his unit was limited by their availability, he was unwavering that “people would appear after we get a call again.”
“Our homes are there and I will not leave my boys,” he said. “” Forever War “can serve Netanyahu, for sure, but there are still things we need to achieve.”
Cartography Jana Tauschinski
