The Israeli news website “Walla” revealed on Friday evening that 4,000 Israeli soldiers have suffered disabilities since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip, with the number expected to rise to 30,000.
In this context, the site noted that the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on October 7 led Israel into a war that was unprecedented in terms of the number of wounded soldiers. More importantly, the injuries are extremely serious.
The Israeli military does not disclose all casualty data to the public, fearing it could lower morale.
Currently, about 4,000 soldiers are recognized as having disabilities according to “Category 3,” meaning they are entitled to all treatments and rights enjoyed by a disabled person in the Israeli military, without being officially recognized as such.
The site pointed out that salaries are paid to the injured soldiers and they are treated without needing to prove anything. The process of rehabilitating them to return to normal life is set to begin soon.
Serious Cases
The website quoted the head of the Disabled Soldiers Organization in the Israeli military, Eidan Kaliman, saying that for every physical therapy specialist they worked with, they now require four to keep up with the number of casualties. The same applies to all other therapeutic professions.
Kaliman added, “We need to triple our strength at once for our soldiers and are ready to face this challenge. I have been in the system for 30 years and have never faced such a number of wounded, and their condition is very serious.”
Many of the wounded have lost limbs, suffered blindness, or paralysis.
The Israeli military announced the recruitment of 360,000 reserve soldiers in the ongoing war against the Gaza Strip since October 7, with the ground operation starting on the 27th of the same month.
Military data indicates that the number of officers and soldiers killed since the beginning of the war is 520, including 186 since the start of the ground attack in the Gaza Strip.
