A report<\/a> published by the Knesset Research and Information Center last October found that between January 2024 and July 2025, 279 Israel Defense Forces soldiers attempted to take their own lives.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition \t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n According to the report, combat soldiers made up 78 percent of all suicide cases in Israel in 2024, a sharp rise from previous years: The rate hovered between 42% and 45% from 2017 to 2022, and stood at just 17% in 2023.<\/p>\n \t The Knesset report found that only 17% of the soldiers who died by suicide over the past two years had met with a mental health officer in the two months prior to their deaths.<\/p>\n Most recent suicides among Israeli soldiers were driven by psychological trauma from the ongoing war in Gaza, including prolonged deployments in combat zones, witnessing harrowing scenes and the loss of friends, according to the findings of internal military investigations<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the IDF has said that it was drawing systemic conclusions and stepping up its mental health measures, some reservists have accused the government of failing to do enough to solve the problem.<\/p>\n Addressing the Knesset Health Committee, trauma victim Avichai Levi said the public had forgotten him and his comrades.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went out to die, and we came back dead. Do some soul-searching,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Levi added that he had lost NIS 4,000 in benefits ($1,300) due to his condition because his wife is employed, prompting Sandrovich to state that she would look into the matter.<\/p>\n Micha Katz, one of the leaders of a long-running combat trauma victims protest outside the Knesset, called for the development of a family-based rehabilitation framework and work to reintegrate and empower PTSD-sufferers, while veteran Shmuel Harel dismissed an official app for post-trauma sufferers as judgmental and condescending.<\/p>\n \t According to a survey presented by Harel, 51% of the families of traumatized soldiers are unaware of their rights and therefore unable to receive the proper support and benefits.<\/p>\n A representative of Sabar Health Home Hospitalization told lawmakers that since the beginning of the war, the Defense Ministry\u2019s Rehabilitation Department \u201cissued a tender to expand mental health services.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWithin this framework, hospitalization alternatives were developed for mental-health patients with a background of PTSD who have difficulty staying in stabilization homes or wards. Home-based hospitalization is carried out by a multidisciplinary team specializing in mental health that comes to the patient\u2019s home. This response allows the patient and family members to remain in a familiar environment, strengthens the sense of belonging, and increases cooperation,\u201d and has a \u201chigh success rate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n During a hearing on preventing suicide among soldiers and veterans in the Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee last September, combat veterans poured bags of medications<\/a> onto the table, loudly warning that there would be more suicides if things did not change.<\/p>\n The same afternoon, Itzik Saidyan, an IDF veteran who self-immolated<\/a> outside a Defense Ministry office for injured soldiers four years ago, slammed the government for failing to deal with the issue adequately, during a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been discussions for more than 15 years now about care for combat trauma victims. Another discussion, and another. When will you understand that you must cancel all your other debates and focus solely on this?\u201d he asked, demanding that lawmakers \u201cput an end to this.\u201d<\/p>\n \t Over the summer, the head of the IDF\u2019s Personnel Directorate, Maj. Gen. Dado Bar Kalifa, ordered<\/a> the establishment of a panel of experts to \u201cexamine the response provided to discharged soldiers and reservists who are not on active duty and who ended their lives following their military service.\u201d<\/p>\n Addressing the Health Committee on Monday, the Defense Ministry\u2019s Sandrovich listed various programs that the government is running for veterans suffering from trauma, including carpentry and animal therapy.<\/p>\n Stav Levaton and Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tMK Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit) chairs a meeting of the Knesset Health Committee, February 9, 2026. (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/F251223CG301-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tIsraeli soldiers with PTSD, demanding better rights and conditions, block a road and burn a rubbish bin outside the Knesset, December 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/F251210YS44-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tFormer soldiers who are suffering from PTSD speak during a special meeting of the Knesset Committee for the Rights of the Child, December 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n
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