Dhaka: The whole world is stunned by the Israeli brutality in the Palestinian blockaded Gaza. Many have been shocked by the cries of the helpless Gazans. The cries of the little child in Gaza who is looking for his dead parents may have made many hearts bleed. However, although we see the cries of the Palestinians, many of us may not be aware of the helplessness of the Israelis. Yes, not only in Palestine but also in Israel, many want peace. Like the Gazans, the Israelis also want freedom from the devastation of war.
The soldiers with whom Israel is wreaking hell in Gaza are the same soldiers who are shuddering at the horrors of war. Thousands of Israeli soldiers have become mentally disturbed after seeing this devastation of extreme degradation of humanity. Many who returned with painful memories of Gaza have committed suicide. Eliran Mizrahi is one of them.
Eliran Mizrahi, a father of four, was a member of the Israeli army. He was sent to fight in Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel last year. But he returned from Gaza with a heartbreaking memory that forced him to commit suicide.
The 40-year-old member of the Israeli military reserves took part in the war against Hamas in Gaza. However, what Eliran saw while fighting left him with a deep psychological trauma. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, which led him to commit suicide.
In order to hide the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza from the world, the Israeli government does not allow foreign journalists to enter the territory. Although some do get the chance, they have to be guarded and monitored by Israeli forces. As a result, it has become difficult to get a picture of what Israeli soldiers are experiencing there.
However, after Eliran's death, his family told CNN in an interview that he described the atrocities he witnessed in Gaza. Eliran's mother, Jenny, said that even after returning home from Gaza, the horrors of Gaza could not be erased from his mind. Eliran returned with such trauma that he committed suicide.
The Israeli military (IDF) has said that not only Eliran, but thousands of other soldiers like him are suffering from PTSD or mental illness due to trauma during the ongoing war. However, the IDF has not provided any official statistics.
The country's Health Ministry has said that more than 42,000 people have been killed in Israel's war in Gaza so far. Most of the dead are women and children.
The conflict between the two sides began on October 7 last year, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. The conflict is still ongoing and has spread to Lebanon. This is the longest war in the history of Palestine and Israel since the establishment of the state of Israel. The consequences of the war are feared to spread throughout the Middle East.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) doctor who spent four months in Gaza told CNN on condition of anonymity, "Many of our soldiers are afraid that they may be sent to Lebanon. Many members of the Israeli army now cannot trust Prime Minister Netanyahu's government.
Israeli soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip told CNN that they have seen horrors that outsiders can never imagine. The entire world has criticized the killing in Gaza. Critics have condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's violence as a "forever war." Their criticism has even hinted at the invisible impact it has had on the soldiers participating in this brutal war. Netanyahu's administration is wreaking havoc with the mantra of "win by any means necessary." Not only are the helpless people of Gaza suffering, but Israeli soldiers are also suffering.
Because Israeli soldiers are not only fighting physically, they also have to fight mentally. In an interview with CNN, an Israeli soldier, a doctor, and Eliran's family shared their unheard-of experiences.
'No one will understand what I have seen'
Eliran was deployed to Gaza on October 8 last year. At that time, he was assigned to drive a D-9 bulldozer. It is a 62-ton armored vehicle that can survive bullets and bombs.
Eliran's mother, Jenny, said that Eliran previously worked as a manager in an Israeli construction company. He joined the Israeli military on his own accord after the Hamas attack.
Eliran was in Gaza for 186 days. In February of this year, his bulldozer was attacked. He injured his knee. He was then flown back to Israel from Gaza for treatment. In April, he began treatment for PTSD. He was receiving therapy every week. However, this treatment did not help his life.
After returning from Gaza, Eliran would get angry easily, would not sleep at night, would sweat. He would tell his family that only those who were with him there would understand what he had gone through in Gaza. Eliran's sister Shir told CNN that she always said that no one would understand what I had seen.
The mother of the Israeli soldier who committed suicide said, "He saw a lot of people die. Maybe he even killed someone. But we don't teach our children to do these things. So when he did something like that, it must have been a big shock."
Afraid to eat meat
Eliran's friend Guy Zaken also drove the bulldozer with him. Sharing their experiences in Gaza, Guy told CNN, "We saw very difficult things, which are difficult to accept." Guy Zaken still cannot eat meat. Who while eating, he remembers the scenes he saw from inside the bulldozer in Gaza. He struggles to sleep because he hears the constant sound of explosions.
The bodies he saw in Gaza now seem like “meat” to Zaken. “When you see so much blood and flesh outside the bulldozer, theirs (Palestinians) and ours (Israeli soldiers), it really affects your food,” he said.
Israeli soldiers’ hostile attitude towards Gaza civilians
An IDF doctor said that Israeli soldiers are morally insecure when they encounter Palestinian civilians in Gaza. He said, speaking on condition of anonymity, that there is a distrustful attitude among Israeli soldiers towards the Gazans. They have a perception that “Gaza civilians are bad because they help Hamas.” They hide their ammunition.’
The IDF says it is doing everything possible to reduce civilian deaths in Gaza. It is sending text messages and making phone calls to evacuate civilians before an attack. In many places, text messages with warning messages are also being sent from the sky. Despite this, large numbers of civilians are being killed in Gaza. Israeli forces are even attacking their self-proclaimed ‘safe zones’.
Gazans are suffering from a severe mental crisis in such a dire situation. The UN and various aid agencies have repeatedly highlighted the devastating impact that 17 years of blockade and several wars with Israel have had on the mental health of Gazans.
After Eliran’s suicide, a video and photo of him posing in front of a house in Gaza that had been crushed by a bulldozer were published on social media. These photos of him were featured in a documentary. There, he was widely commented on as a ‘murderer’. As a result, the photos were later deleted from his social media account.
Bulldozers run over bodies
Aaron Bergman, a political scientist at King's College London in the United Kingdom, worked for the Israeli army for six years, including during the Lebanon War in 1982. According to him, this war is different from all the wars Israel has fought so far.
Bergman said that this war has been going on for a long time in urban areas. The soldiers have to fight among many people. Most of them are civilians.
According to Bergman, among the members of the Israeli army who are directly involved in the war in Gaza are bulldozer drivers. They see dead people. Along with the rubble, the bodies have to be removed with their bulldozers. Sometimes they have to drive their bulldozers over the bodies.
Aaron Bergman believes that many soldiers are unable to lead normal lives after returning to Israel from the battlefield. Because many women and children have been killed in this war. "How do you put your children to sleep after seeing children killed in Gaza?" he said.
Eliran also couldn't sleep at night. Despite his PTSD, his family said he agreed to go to Gaza when he was called back. But he committed suicide two days before he was due to go there.
His mother, Jenny, keeps Eliran's belongings as a memento of her son. Among them is the cap Eliran was wearing when he was shot in the head. The bullet hole in the cap is still clearly visible.
Not only Eliran, but many other Israeli soldiers have chosen to commit suicide after returning from Gaza. According to a report by the country's influential media outlet Haaretz, citing information from the Israeli army, 10 Israeli soldiers committed suicide between October 7 last year and May 11 this year.
CNN asked Uzi Bechor, an Israeli army commander and psychologist, about the number of suicides among soldiers. He said that the suicide rate in the Israeli military has been more or less stable for 5-6 years. In fact, the number has been decreasing for 10 years. However, the psychologist did not disclose the exact number.
One-third of soldiers returning from Gaza suffer from mental health problems
One-third of Israeli soldiers returning from the Gaza war are suffering from mental health complications. In a statement last August, the Israeli Ministry of Defense said that more than 1,000 wounded soldiers are being brought back for treatment every month. 35 percent of them complained about their mental health. However, the condition of 27 percent of these soldiers is improving.
The Defense Ministry report also said that by the end of this year, 14,000 Israeli soldiers will be hospitalized for treatment. It is estimated that about 40 percent of them will face mental health problems.
More than 500 people commit suicide in Israel every year. In addition, more than 6,000 people attempt suicide, according to the country's Ministry of Health. And according to the Times of Israel, suicide was the leading cause of death among Israeli soldiers in 2021. At least 11 soldiers took their own lives that year.
The Israeli Health Ministry took steps earlier this year to dispel 'rumors' about soldier suicides during the Gaza war. At the time, they described the suicides of soldiers as 'isolated incidents'. They said that the number of suicides decreased from October to December 2023 compared to the previous year.
After the Hamas attack on October 7 last year, most Israelis supported the war in Gaza and expressed their willingness to continue the war to free the hostages held by Hamas. But a survey published by the Israel Democracy Institute on the one-year anniversary of the attack showed a different picture. Only 6% of Israelis believe that the war should continue. The rest are in favor of ending the war in Gaza. They believe that human lives are more valuable than war. Among them, those who have seen the horrors of Gaza as soldiers have expressed their unwavering support for ending the war.
Eliran, after returning from seeing the horrors of Gaza, often told his family that he felt like “invisible blood” was flowing from his body.
His sister, Shir, blames the Gaza war for Eliran’s suicide. Referring to her brother’s mental anguish, she said, “Because of the military, because of this war, my brother is no longer with us. He may not have died in the war from a bullet or an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade), but an invisible bullet took his life.”