Leading into Tuesday’s conference regarding wounded soldiers, the Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that the number of injured is expected to cross the 100,000 threshold by 2030, and the current war has crossed the 16,000 mark.
In December 2024, the ministry said the number of wounded soldiers had crossed the 75,000 mark, and for the current war had crossed the 13,500 mark.Although these numbers have shattered previous records and the pace of wounded soldiers had skyrocketed compared to the pre-war era, in terms of the war itself, the pace of wounded soldiers clearly slowed even before the ceasefire, and essentially froze during the January 19-March 18 ceasefire.Back in April 2024, the ministry had predicted around 20,000 additional soldiers would be injured in 2024, let alone getting into 2025.There have been no killed soldiers so far in Gaza since the renewed invasion started on March 19, and no sizable number of new wounded soldiers yet.
There was also a significant drop in fighting between February 2024 and May 2024, in summer 2024, and after the ceasefire with Hezbollah in November 2024.
Reserve soldiers constitute the majority of wounded personnel (66%) from the current war, with 51% being aged 18-30 and 7% women.Approximately 10,900 individuals are suffering from physical injuries, while 50% of those treated have experienced psychological distress, including 2,900 with combined physical and psychological injuries, said the ministry.According to the ministry, of the total wounded, 6% have moderate injuries, and 4% have severe injuries.Seventy-two amputees have already been fitted with prosthetic devices.In July 2024, the Defense Ministry said that 9,250 soldiers had been wounded in nine months of fighting.It also predicted at the time that 14,000 would be wounded for all of 2024, with Sunday’s numbers passing that prediction.While the second half of 2024 saw a drop in the pace of wounded soldiers, the current war period still reflected a 20% increase as compared to the year before the war.All of this is still just in terms of soldiers, given that the vast majority of those killed and wounded by Hamas on October 7, 2023, were civilians, with the number of killed and wounded civilians dwarfing any comparative number for decades.The ministry has streamlined much of the bureaucracy for being recognized and there are 300 new technological treatment options for wounded soldiers.In July 2024, the ministry said 70% of the wounded were reservists, while 30% were mandatory service or career officers.Prior to the war, there were 62,000 injured soldiers from all prior wars and battles, of which 18%, or 11,000, had emotional harm.Of those 11,000, around 8,000 or 70%, experienced emotional symptoms as their primary problem.The IDF has said it is proud that 85% of its soldiers who have a potential mix of being physically or emotionally harmed by their war experiences are able to return to the battlefield.New therapists hired to treat IDF soldiers
Moreover, the IDF is proud of the over 850 new psychologists-therapists it hired to handle increased emotional problems from the war.
But some experts and anecdotal evidence have raised questions about whether the atmosphere among these therapists and the battle commanders is truly conducive to handling issues like PTSD properly, or whether there is undue pressure from key officials to send soldiers back into battle even if they are only borderline stable.Others have criticized the IDF for offering therapy mainly to frontline combat soldiers, while ignoring the trauma to other kinds of soldiers who are witnessing or experiencing a variety of traumatic experiences during their service even if they technically are not combat fighters.