BBCIsrael’s war on multiple fronts has not only worn down its enemy. Not only did it cost the lives of thousands of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. It continues to exact a price from its own people.
There is a growing feeling of war weariness in Israel. The recent ceasefire agreement with Lebanon will come as a relief to many. Not least for Noam Glukhovsky – an IDF reservist who has spent much of the past year serving as a frontline medic.
We spoke to Noam, 33, in Tel Aviv before the ceasefire was announced. “We can’t fight this war much longer. Without a clear end date and goal, we simply don’t have the manpower to continue,” he said.
As an IDF reservist, Noam would normally expect to do a few weeks of military service per year. But last year he spent 250 days in uniform. The war, he said, took him away from the life he knew. His plans to become a doctor were also postponed for a year.
When we met, Noam was trying to catch up on his studies but was also waiting to see if he would be drafted again. His mood was defiant.
“I can no longer put my life on hold,” he said. He said he would not return to his unit unless there was a dramatic change in the direction of the war. He had enough.
The IDF already recognizes that fewer reservists are now reporting for duty. More than 300,000 reservists responded to the Hamas attacks on October 7 last year, which killed around 1,200 people. The voter turnout was over 100%. Now it’s only 85%. Noam estimates that in his unit the response is even lower – about 60% of those called up now report for duty.
Reserves and conscripts are the lifeblood of the IDF. Brigadier General Ariel Heimann – also a reservist and former chief reserve officer – says Israel is too small a country to have a large, expensive, professional and regular army. Without reservists, he says, the IDF would not be able to fight or survive.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the IDF has 170,000 active soldiers, including conscripts, and 465,000 reserve forces.
Brigadier General Heimann admits that the longer the war lasts, the more difficult the IDF’s reliance on reserves will become. He compared the IDF to a spring – if it is stretched too far, it will break. For now, he says it’s coping.
But in a sign of strain, the IDF wants to extend compulsory military service for male conscripts from 32 to 36 months.
The fact that the burden of service is not shared by everyone has also led to resentment. One group has been exempt from military service for decades – thousands of Haredi, i.e. ultra-Orthodox Jews. They believe that their young men’s lives should be devoted to religious education rather than military service.
The issue has already divided the Israeli coalition government. But after the Attorney General’s intervention, draft documents are sent to 7,000 Haredi Jewish men. They responded with angry protests. But Brigadier General Heimann, like ousted former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, says they have a “moral duty to serve.”
Not only is a personal sacrifice required, but also an economic one.
The Bank of Israel said in May that the cost of the war for Israel could reach $70 billion (£55 billion) by the end of next year, an estimate made before the country’s ground invasion of Lebanon. Small businesses are the hardest hit.
Shelly Lotan’s food tech start-up, like many others, is struggling to survive. Shelly has already had to move her business out of northern Israel to avoid Hezbollah rocket fire. Two of their seven employees were drafted into military service.
The morning we meet at her home in Tel Aviv, Shelly has just received more bad news. She received a text message from one of her employees whose military service was being extended.
“I just can’t express how critical it is to have another employee missing for another month,” says Shelly.
“I can’t even hire someone else or fill that gap.”
Shelly also had to juggle family life with three young children. Her husband, also a reservist, had to be away from home for a long time.
A ceasefire in Lebanon could ease some of the pressure. But there is still fighting in Gaza. Shelly Lotan fears for the future without a clear strategy from the Israeli government to end the conflict.
“I think the war should have ended by now,” she says.
