Knesset centre report records 279 suicide attempts among Israeli soldiers in 18 months
At least 279 Israeli soldiers have attempted suicide over 18 months during Israel’s war on Gaza, according to a new report.
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said the report by the Knesset Research and Information Center showed “worrying data regarding suicide attempts among Israeli soldiers” from January 2024 to July 2025, 36 of which resulted in death.
According to the report, 124 Israeli soldiers have died by suicide from 2017 to July 2025 – 68 percent of them serving compulsory military service, 21 percent of them reservists and 11 percent on permanent duty.
The report indicated a significant increase in suicide cases among reservists since 2023, linking this to an increase in the number of active-duty soldiers since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
“The suicide epidemic, which is expected to increase with the end of the war, requires establishing real support systems for soldiers, working to end wars and achieving real peace,” said Ofer Cassif, a left-wing member of the Knesset.
“The government that sends its soldiers to war and leaves them to face the consequences alone is working against them,” Cassif added.
Netanyahu’s tough response in Gaza ‘a reaction to domestic criticism he is under US control’
Israel’s recent wave of attacks on Gaza reflected an attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take control of the narrative in the face of domestic criticism that he was under American control, says an Israeli political analyst.
Akiva Eldar told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu was already eyeing an election that could take place earlier than he wanted, in March or April.
He said the Israeli leader was trying to simultaneously preserve his strong relations with Washington, which has brokered the ceasefire agreement, while signalling strength to his critics at home.
“What he wants is to control the narrative, but at the same time, part of this narrative is his very good, excellent relationship with the Trump administration,” he said.
“So he will do everything he can in order to avoid any kind of confrontation. But at the same time, he needs to prove [himself] to all those columnists who are accusing him of giving up Israeli authority, Israeli independence, Israeli control on what is happening [in] Gaza.”
Israel bans ICRC visits to detained Palestinian ‘combatants’
Israel has banned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting thousands of Palestinian prisoners detained under a law targeting “unlawful combatants”, the country’s defence minister said.
“The opinions presented to me leave no doubt that Red Cross visits to terrorists in prisons would seriously harm the state’s security. The safety of the state and our citizens comes first,” Israel Katz said, according to a statement from his office.
The order prohibits the ICRC from visiting several thousand detainees named in a list attached to it.
In practice, the order will make law of the status quo that has prevailed since the war in Gaza started. The ICRC says it has not been allowed to visit detainees in jail since then, save for pre-release interviews conducted under Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange deals.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which filed a petition to grant the ICRC access to Israeli prisons, told the AFP news agency that some of the combatants are held in military detention centres, and others in regular Israeli jails.
It said that before the ceasefire deal that began on October 10, the Israel Prison Service “was holding 2,673 prisoners categorised as unlawful combatants”, but added that hundreds were released under the deal in exchange for captives held in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza’s Dr Hussam Abu Safiya is still held by Israel, no sign of release
During Israel’s war on Gaza, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, was warned by Israeli soldiers for months in 2024 to take his family and leave his duties.
But Abu Safiya refused to leave his patients behind, as his colleagues and family said in a documentary by Al Jazeera’s Fault Lines.
Then in December as Israeli forces surrounded the hospital, an Israeli officer called Abu Safiya and promised to relocate him and his staff to another hospital.
But the promise was a lie. Instead, the paediatrician and neonatologist was abducted by Israeli forces.
Ten months later, Abu Safiya is still in detention as Israel has refused to include him in prisoner exchanges. His lawyer said he’s been subjected to torture and inhumane treatment, including long periods in solitary confinement.
