Israeli media highlighted the deteriorating morale of the occupation soldiers participating in the war on Gaza, while former detainees stressed that the Israeli government’s priorities are to destroy the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and not to return the prisoners.
Israeli Channel 12’s military and security affairs correspondent, Or Heller, reviewed the incident of a soldier from the Paratroopers Division in Ashkelon, where he opened fire after waking up in the middle of the night as a result of a nightmare, which led to some of his colleagues being lightly injured by shrapnel.
In turn, former head of the Israeli Home Front, Dadi Samhi, said that the officers bear a great responsibility, and they must organize talks to relieve the tension among the soldiers and address what they faced, pointing out that the paratroopers’ officers are young men and their age is around 22 years.
In turn, Shalom Ben Hanan – a former senior employee in the Internal Security Agency (Shin Bet) – pointed out that these leaders are also young and are exposed to the same pressures, calling for, before they go on leave or go to operations, to “organize meetings with elements whose mission is to strengthen mental health and provide soldier leaders with Professional tools to deal with stress.
The Israeli media also highlighted a soldier who refused to serve in the Israeli army, declaring his refusal to “participate in this criminal war in Gaza.”
For her part, Hagar Brodts – who was liberated with her children as part of exchange deals with the Palestinian resistance during the temporary truce – pointed out that the Israeli army “has been bombing us since the ninth of October,” stressing that the first goal of the Israeli government is “to defeat Hamas, and after… This is the return of the kidnapped (captives).”
She added, “One of our problems was how we would explain to two 4-year-old children that the one who is bombing them is the IDF…their army that was supposed to defend them there in their homes (the Gaza envelope), in the house in which it neglected them and is now bombing them while they are inside Gaza.”
