SWORDS OF IRON WAR. Day 124.

WEDNESDAY 07.2.2024

https://www.israelhayom.co.il/news/defense/article/15230895. 

(My free translation to English. Only parts of the entire article. Check it for pictures) 

Collected data shows since the beginning of the Iron Sword war: 

564 IDF soldiers have fallen 

227 of them in the ground maneuver in the Gaza Strip. 

130 of those who have fallen since the beginning of the ground maneuver with reserve soldiers, that is, 55% of those who fall in the maneuver are reservists. 

Total reservists served: 287,000 Volunteered: 50,000 

Women: 40,000. Total left today in the reserves: 130,000 IDF

Evacuation of soldiers to hospitals: 

In total soldiers moved to hospitals                  11,883 

IDF soldiers were hospitalized                          2,830 

IDF soldiers arrived in the ER not hospitalized 9,053

 During the war, the IDF recruited an additional 900 soldiers to help the soldiers deal with mental stress and post-traumatic stress disorder, although it defined that it was the commanders who had to deal with the mental difficulty. 
As of this time, about 1,800 soldiers needed advanced psychological assistance, and 150 of them had their profile reduced due to their mental condition. About 26,000 soldiers went through a combat processing workshop, with the greatest difficulty observed among soldiers who were exposed to many deaths, especially on October 7. 

Today, we took the train and the Metronit (a little Metro) to Haifa. We visited a friend recovering from an operation at the Itanilan Hospital. Our friend is doing well and will be home by Sunday, Lord Willing. 

We sit beside a young soldier, a Druz from the Northern area. He thanked God in every sentence. He was returning from a few days at home, back to the base. His job – was to pick up, to evacuate and to move dead bodies. He is been doing it for 4 months, and he has a year or more still to serve. With his sad eyes that fell to the floor more often than looking at me, he said, “There are so many bodies still waiting to be moved”. We kept blessing him that he would return whole and well home at the end of the war. We agreed with him that “we will be victorious because God is with us”. We told him that his name would be added to a list of soldiers that we are praying for by name so they will return safely home, he thanked us.  

The army is trying to increase the service time for first-time recruiters and reservists. IDF needs more fighters. We lost too many.

There has been a ball in my throat since October 7, it had not been released yet; today it only grew.