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The Ministry of Health in Gaza reveals the devastating toll of massacres inflicted by the Israeli army on Palestinian families over the past year, a year of ongoing genocide and destruction.
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At least six Israeli soldiers have taken their own lives in recent months, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Friday, citing severe psychological distress caused by prolonged wars in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon as the primary cause.
The investigation suggests the actual number of suicides may be higher, as the Israeli military has yet to release official figures, despite a promise to disclose them by the end of the year.
The report highlights a broader mental health crisis within the Israeli army. Thousands of soldiers have sought help from military mental health clinics or field psychologists, with approximately a third of those affected showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
According to the investigation, the number of soldiers suffering psychological trauma may exceed those with physical injuries from the war.
The daily cites experts as saying the full extent of this mental health crisis will become clear once military operations are completed and troops return to normal life.
In March, Lucian Tatsa-Laur, head of the Israeli military’s mental health department, told Haaretz that approximately 1,700 soldiers had received psychological treatment.
Multiple reports have since emerged indicating that thousands of troops are suffering from mental health issues owing to extended deployments in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Regional tension has escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 44,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.
The second year of the genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with figures and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
In a landmark move, the International Criminal Court on Thursday announced it had issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes in Palestinian territories, including Gaza.
The conflict has spread to Lebanon, with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country in an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of the Gaza war.
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Human Rights Watch (HRW), Thursday, accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcibly displacing nearly 1.9 million Palestinians during its war in Gaza.
In a report titled “Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in Gaza,” HRW detailed how Israeli attacks, evacuation orders, and destruction of infrastructure have created a humanitarian catastrophe.
“The intention of Israeli forces appears likely to ensure they remain permanently emptied and cleansed of Palestinians and, in their place, occupied and controlled by Israeli forces,” the report said.
The rights group highlighted that Israel’s evacuation orders and airstrikes have forced the majority of Gaza’s population to flee their homes without adequate safeguards for their safety.
Based on interviews, satellite imagery, and analyses of evacuation orders and attack footage, the report revealed that Israeli authorities acted “with disregard for civilian life and international legal obligations.”
It added that displaced Palestinians have been left to endure “unrelentingly dangerous conditions” with critical shortages of food, water, and medical supplies.
Forced Palestinian displacement
The report accused Israel of failing to ensure civilian protection, a cornerstone of international humanitarian law, while deliberately targeting densely populated civilian areas.
“Even if Israel can demonstrate that its actions fall within the displacement exception, its lack of adherence to the strict protections required to make an evacuation lawful demonstrates that its orders for people to move were a pretext for forced displacement,” the report said.
“The mass displacement of Palestinians and the destruction of homes and vital infrastructure have caused unspeakable suffering,” said Lama Fakih, HRW’s Middle East director.
The report also drew attention to the devastating humanitarian toll, noting that Israel’s blockade has exacerbated the crisis. Bombings of hospitals, schools, and refugee shelters have left civilians with no safe refuge, a violation of international laws that prohibit targeting civilian infrastructure.
“Forced displacement of civilians during armed conflict is prohibited under international law, except for their safety,” HRW emphasized.
The Israeli government has defended its actions as lawful responses to security threats, asserting that they are aimed at dismantling militant operations. However, HRW rejected these claims, arguing that the scale and pattern of displacement point to a systematic campaign to uproot Palestinians from Gaza.
“Given the evidence strongly indicates that multiple acts of forced displacement were carried out with intent, it amounts to war crimes,” it said according to Anadolu.
HRW called for immediate international action, including independent investigations into Israel’s actions. The report urged global actors to hold Israeli authorities accountable for the displacement and the humanitarian crisis.
“Governments around the world need to pressure Israel to cease these violations and address the catastrophic conditions it has created,” the rights group added.
The report adds to growing international criticism of Israel’s military campaign, with human rights groups and global leaders warning of severe and lasting consequences for Gaza’s Palestinian population.
Israel has continued its devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023. The onslaught has killed more than 43,700 victims and rendered the enclave almost uninhabitable.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
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The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip announced, Saturday evening, that the number of Palestinian journalists killed rose to 188.
It produced the latest total after announcing the martyrdom of four journalists killed in the genocidal war committed by Israel on the people of Gaza since 7 October, 2023.
According to the government office, the martyred journalists included “Al-Zahraa and Ahmed Mohammed Abu Sakhil, who work for the News Media Network,” and were killed earlier on Saturday, in an Israeli bombing that targeted a shelter center in Gaza City.
The other journalists are “Mustafa and Abdul Rahman Khader Bahr,” who worked for the Aajil Palestine Agency (local), where the first was martyred near the Kuwait roundabout south of Gaza City, while the second was a photographer in the Al-Karama neighborhood northwest of Gaza City.
The government media office condemned “the occupation’s targeting, killing and assassination of Palestinian journalists.”
The office held “Israel fully responsible for committing this crime,” calling on the international community to pressure “to stop the crime of killing and assassinating journalists.”
It also called on the international community and international organizations to “deter the occupation and prosecute it in international courts for its ongoing crimes and pressure it to stop the crime of genocide.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, with absolute American support, leaving more than 146,000 martyrs, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and elderly people, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
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Disputes have escalated between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the army’s presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarized area along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
Netanyahu sees the axis as a “lifeline for Hamas,” ruling out any withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the corridor, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said.
Netanyahu’s hardline position is seen by opposition leaders and families of Israeli hostages in Gaza as hindering efforts to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas according to Anadolu.
Last Thursday, Israel’s security cabinet voted to maintain Israeli military presence at the corridor, a position that drew fire from the defense minister.
Gallant called Israel’s control of the corridor “an unnecessary constraint that we’ve placed on ourselves.”
“We will not live up to the war goals we set for ourselves,” he said during a security cabinet meeting on Sunday. “The decision made Thursday was reached under the assumption that there is time, but if we want live hostages, there’s no time.”
“We endangered soldiers for decades for single individuals. How are we to treat the lives of 30? It’s moral bankruptcy,” the defense minister said, in reference to a 2001 prisoner swap deal with Hamas under which more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees were released in return for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
During the meeting, Gallant reminded Netanyahu, “You released 1,027 prisoners, including Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, in exchange for just one man, Gilad Shalit.”
KAN, citing sources close to Netanyahu, said the Israeli premier is not expected to dismiss his defense minister anytime soon despite their strained relations.
Public anger against Netanyahu’s government has grown after the army said Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages from southern Gaza.
In response, the country’s largest labor union Histadrut called a one-day general strike to pressure the Israeli government to reach an immediate cease-fire and prisoner swap deal with Hamas.
Israel estimates that more than 100 hostages are still being held by the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, some of whom are believed to have been already killed.
For months, the US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to reach an agreement between Israel and Hamas to ensure a prisoner exchange and a cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. But mediation efforts have been stalled due to Netanyahu’s refusal to meet Hamas’ demands to stop the war.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last Oct. 7, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
The onslaught has resulted in over 40,700 Palestinian deaths, mostly women and children, and over 94,100 injuries, according to local health authorities.
An ongoing blockade of Gaza has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.
Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians had sought refuge before the area was invaded on May 6.
