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Israeli reservists are sounding the alarm over a significant drop in the rate of reserve soldiers turning up for duty, more than 13 months into the Gaza War.
Israel’s military reported more than 100 per cent call-up rates across the services at the beginning of the conflict, numbering a record of about 300,000 people, after Hamas launched attacks on southern Israel on October 7. Some units saw highs of as much as 150 per cent as reservists turned up for duty despite not being called upon.
In recent weeks, rates dropped to between 75 per cent to 85 per cent, defence sources told The Times of Israel, a sharp decline that raises questions about the burden of reserve duty hoisted on specific parts of society, certain long-standing political divisions and the toll on families and the economy.
Reservists told The National that economic concerns and strain on families are among the top reasons for fewer reservists showing up.
Lior Shelef, a reservist on Kibbutz Snir on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon and Syria, has been commanding a force guarding his community since the war broke out. The war between Israel and Hamas has killed 43,700 Palestinians in Gaza and more than 1,000 Israelis.
“We are feeling the side effects of the endless war. People are very frustrated, we want to protect our country, of course, but people who have normal day jobs have bosses asking when they’re coming back,” Mr Shelef said.
“I have people in my team whose bosses have called them to say they’re not angry with them, they’re not threatening them with being sacked, just that they really need them back at work,” he added.
Kibbutz Snir had a sign-up rate of about 120 per cent at the beginning of the war. It’s now less than 75 per cent, Mr Shelef said.
“I live next to the border, so I will always be a reservist. If I wasn’t living here maybe I wouldn’t go to the reserves also. The ground, land and dust wouldn’t run in my veins the same way it does now,” Mr Shelef added.
Mr Shelef and all reservists The National spoke to also mentioned the toll on family life for reservists. At the beginning of the war, his family was evacuated further south to government-funded hotels and now to another village, like tens of thousands of other Israelis who lived on the country's borders.
The difficulties have made people exhausted, Mr Shelef said. “In the early days of the war, we’d have a barbecue twice a week. Today it doesn’t happen. Everyone’s in their own corner. There aren’t lots of gatherings. It’s hard days.”
Michael Ofer-Ziv, a reservist from Tel Aviv, believes the actual rate of reservists not turning up is probably higher than reported and that trauma and exhaustion are playing a role. “There is a lot of PTSD, trauma and mental health issues because of what they’ve been doing and seeing during their service,” he said.
“Those people might not be counted in the numbers because they will be dismissed as injured,” he added.
Mr Ofer-Ziv refused to continue serving when he was called up again in June, after losing support for the war. He believed some reservists might be finding excuses not to serve due to similar moral qualms.
Long-standing political questions are also adding to the problem.
Mr Shelef said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of former defence minister Yoav Gallant compelled one member of his team to leave the military and several others to vow not to return when they were next called up.
“Gallant was in [the special forces] and a highly ranked officer. They’re taking him out of the cabinet and putting in people with no military experience,” he said.
“It’s very hard to serve in an army where the people who tell you what to do have nothing to do with the army. They’re going to sit in their chair and tell me to do a 100-day reserve service when they haven’t done a single day in their life?”
The issue of ultra-Orthodox Israelis not being drafted into the military is perhaps the most bitter dispute. The decades-old argument gained new urgency since the war began amid a shortage of soldiers and recent court rulings that longtime military exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox are illegal.
The community has long opposed service. There is a widespread belief among their leaders that it would secularise the deeply conservative community, some of whom oppose the State of Israel altogether on religious grounds.
Reservist and senior researcher at think tank INSS Ariel Heimann said that the topic is one of the most contentious in Israel today.
“I’ve been a reservist for a little less than 50 years. Since the beginning, the [ultra-Orthodox] issue has been there. I could never accept how part of the nation was not doing what they needed to do. Now it is more in the news because of the court saying it can’t continue and that the army needs more soldiers,” he said.
“Even religious soldiers living in the West Bank who want one state and left wing soldiers who want to give the West Bank back to the Palestinians agree on this.”
Mr Heimann said the problem of declining reserve duty numbers is not yet a tangible security threat for Israel.
“There has not yet been a unit unable to do a mission because of a lack of numbers. Let’s say if next week there is a real threat, say the Iranians move a division towards Israel, immediately the numbers would spike as has happened a few times since October 7,” he said.
“It’s not a matter of collapse in the near future, I believe ever.”
Mr Shelef said it could become a serious problem for the military, however. “This is not yet a security threat, as of November 2024. For the months and years to come, it could be an issue. If reservists don’t come then active duty soldiers will have to come and that’s a big problem.”
