Manpower Crisis, Israel Faces “Danger” Amidst Preparation To Resume Gaza Genocide: Report (image @Idf)
Tel Aviv, Israel: Reportedly, the Israeli military is facing with severe manpower shortage as it prepares to resume its genocidal war on Gaza. Israeli media Haaretz reported that Israeli military is facing a troop shortage that could be worsened by the refusal of reservist soldiers to report for duty.
For the first time, it seems that there is a danger that some reserve soldiers will not report for service if the return to war is controversial this time, said the report. In many units, only about half of the soldiers have been reporting recently, and the army is trying to obscure this in various ways, it said.
Israel showed refusal to take part in second phase of the agreed upon ceasefire negotiations, and had been preparing for the possible collapse of the ceasefire, and cause the fight against Hamas to continue.
Haaretz added that right-wing ministers who wish to resume the war, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, continue to “express a sweeping indifference to the burden placed on reserve soldiers and the regular army”.
Smotrich and several other Israeli leaders in the settler movement prefer to continue the war to achieve their goal of forcibly expelling the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and rebuilding the Gush Katif Jewish settlement bloc, which was dismantled in 2005, during war with Hamas.
Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman of Netanyahu’s Likud party said on Tuesday the “only solution for the Gaza Strip is to empty it of Gazans” and called the move “realistic”. He made the remark during an interview with Reshet Bet public radio. He said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is “committed to the idea of encouraging emigration” and added that she believes “God has sent us the U.S. administration, and it is telling us – it’s time to inherit the land”.
“The ministers are simply ignoring this [burden], or perhaps they think that the dubious vision of returning to Gush Katif and transferring to the Palestinians (the real goals of the extreme right in the war) will justify any sacrifice even in the eyes of most fighters”, wrote Haaretz.
The Israeli army has been stretched hard during the past one and half year, not only in its genocidal war in Gaza, but for Israel’s illegal occupation in Syria, and South Lebanon which the occupation force project to continue indefinitely.
Israel refused to withdraw from South Lebanon as per the ceasefire agreement, and continued to stay and attack the residents. It also continue to attack and occupy more lands on Syria, as the newly formed government under former al-Qaeda member Ahmed al-Sharaa continue to remain silent on the increasing attack.
Young men from Israel’s ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community continue to ignore draft notices issued by the military. Ynet reported on Monday that the military is preparing to release 14,000 draft notices for young Haredi men to help alleviate the troop shortfall.
Only a limited response to the notices is expected. Some 10,000 Haredim have been called for military duty since June, but only 200 responded, said the report.
As a result, sixty-five Israeli men are under arrest orders, and more than 2,000 are under Order 12, which requires immediate enlistment. Those who fail to report to the draft office within the specified days are subject to a travel ban and may be arrested if discovered by police.
The ultra-Orthodox reject serving in the army, claiming that it is more beneficial for the Israeli state for their men to focus on full-time study of the Jewish holy book, the Torah, in religious seminaries known as yeshivas. On Tuesday morning, ultra-Orthodox newspapers published notices calling for prayers in response to what was described as the army’s “war against the world of yeshivas”.
(With inputs from agencies)
