The Israeli army is immersed in the quagmire of the Gaza war (Israeli press)

The Soldiers' Complaints Commission in the Israeli occupation army said that it recorded a 265% increase in complaints from reserve soldiers during the first 3 months of the war, compared to the same period in 2022.

The report submitted by Commissioner Brigadier General (res.) Racheli Tvet Wezel to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee revealed that 54% of these complaints were justified.

The report stated that regular and reserve soldiers had submitted complaints regarding gaps in military equipment in various units since the start of the war. The complaints also included a lack of combat equipment, protective jackets, winter equipment, and tents.

She added that the soldiers complained strongly about the lack of equipment for the fighters, in addition to complaints related to financial allocations and payments and others related to basic means of protection.

According to the report, which addresses the first three months of the Israeli war on Gaza, the recruitment of about 300,000 reserve soldiers and the recall of regular forces to the south created a bottleneck burden in supplies of equipment, construction, and food.

But as the fighting progressed, according to the report, conditions improved significantly.

During the visits made by the Commissioner to address soldiers’ complaints at some army bases, it was found that there were gaps in some bases in terms of food, infrastructure, living and work, as it was revealed that the living infrastructure was dilapidated and neglected, and faults were found in water, electricity and air conditioning, as well as health conditions. Deteriorated by the presence of mold, mice and cats.

Equipment sale

Last February, the Israeli economic newspaper Calcalist revealed that reserve soldiers in the Israeli army were forced to sell their military equipment in search of money, as a result of their lack of basic financial resources due to the war on the Gaza Strip.

The newspaper said that dozens of reserve soldiers in the Israeli army published advertisements on social media, offering various combat equipment and tools at low prices.

The newspaper published testimonies from soldiers who returned to their homes with “unused” special combat equipment, with a total value of tens and hundreds of thousands of shekels, confirming that some of them store this equipment in their homes for future use, while the rest prefer to sell it for financial gain.

The disclosure of this report comes at a time when the Israeli government is seeking to pass a draft law that excludes religious Jews (Haredim) from military service, and increases the period of compulsory service from 32 months to 36 months, while also applying this to current conscripts.

This controversy comes at a time when the Israeli army has been waging, since October 7, a devastating war on Gaza that has left tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, according to Palestinian sources, which necessitated the trial of Tel Aviv before the International Court of Justice on the grounds of committing “genocide.” "Collective."

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies