WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Former Zionist war minister Moshe Ya’alon has said that as many as 15,000 troops have been killed or wounded in the genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.
Ya’alon told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that the war in Gaza Strip resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries among soldiers of the Zionist regime’ forces (IDF). He stressed the need to pass a law that ends exemptions given to ultra-Orthodox Zionists from compulsory service in order to compensate for the severe shortage of manpower in the IDF.
Moreover, Ya’alon said that the Americans’ involvement in the Gaza ceasefire and captives negotiations in Qatar came as a result of Israel’s failure to fulfill its commitments under the deal for political reasons. He explained that the occupying regime’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to buy time, and replaced the professional negotiating team with another one that is more politically subservient to him.
Regarding the appointment of the new IDF Chief of Staff, General Eyal Zamir, and the high hopes that Netanyahu and his cabinet have for victory in Gaza, Ya’alon said that both Netanyahu and finance minister Bezalel Smotrich have pinned the military’s failure in Gaza on the outgoing chief of staff and now they have high hopes on Zamir, even though the military is meant to implement the will of the political leadership, and winning a war does not rely solely on the chief of staff.
Haaretz newspaper reported that the Israeli occupation army is covering up the surge in the number of reserve soldiers refusing to serve.
“The reserve soldiers’ reluctance to serve has become a reality,” the paper said, noting that only half of the reserve soldiers have shown up for “duty”, while the Israeli occupation army is trying to cover this fact up.
The paper added that the army predicts an increase in the burden on regular forces due to the Gaza war and the strengthening of security.
On Sunday, Israel Hayom newspaper published new data from the Zionist regime’s military revealing significant difficulties in recruiting members of the ultra-Orthodox community.
“Only 177 individuals have been drafted out of 10,000 draft orders issued to them since July 2024, representing a mere 1.77%” the paper said citing data shared during a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and War Committee.
Lieutenant Colonel Avigdor Dickstein, who is responsible for promoting ultra-Orthodox recruitment into the Israeli occupation military, said the military sent 2,231 second draft orders to those who failed to comply with the first order, and issued more than 1,000 arrest warrants for draft evaders.