The Cradle / August 20, 2024
The army is suffering 1,000 injured soldiers each month amid the fighting against Hamas in Gaza.
Tel Aviv announced on 20 August that it has begun calling previously exempted Israeli citizens to reserve duty in the army to address manpower shortages amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the army is recalling 15,000 Israelis up to age 35 who had previously completed mandatory military service starting at age 18 but had received an exemption from further service in the reserves. They will be called to reserve duty in three stages over the coming year.
“The defense minister has instructed to recall reservists who received exemptions from service in the past due to force reductions and are still within the age range requiring service,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s office said in a statement.
“As part of this, and after the necessary preparations were completed, the IDF began reaching out to relevant candidates who served in essential units. Those found suitable for reinstatement will be assigned to various units according to operational needs,” the statement added.
Last month, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein announced plans to advance a bill allowing the conscription of reservists previously exempted from service up to the age of 40.
The bill will recall reservists from a pool of tens of thousands of soldiers who were exempted “under unclear circumstances.”
To go into effect, the bill must pass four readings in the Knesset.
Yedioth Ahronoth adds that the bill has faced severe criticism as the Knesset simultaneously introduces a bill that effectively exempts thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service despite the army’s “significant need” for manpower.
A law recently expired that exempted ultra-Orthodox young men studying at religious schools, Yeshivas, from army service.
So far, only a few thousand summonses have been sent to the roughly 66,000 ultra-Orthodox youth of draft age.
The army is in desperate need of manpower due to losses suffered in Gaza and the potential full-scale war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Earlier this month, the rehabilitation department in the Israeli Ministry of Defense reported that 10,056 soldiers had been wounded in the 10 months since the start of the war in Gaza, a rate of more than a thousand injured each month.
According to a statement by the ministry, more than 3,700 of the injured suffer from limb injuries, including 192 head injuries, 168 eye injuries, 690 spinal cord injuries, and 50 amputees being treated in the rehabilitation department.
