BBCThe war that Israel is waging on multiple fronts has not only exhausted its enemy. This is not limited to claiming the lives of thousands of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. It also continues to extract prices from its people.
There is a growing sense of war weariness in Israel. The recent ceasefire agreement with Lebanon will come as a relief to many. Not least for Noam Glukhovsky – an IDF reservist, who spent most of the past year serving on the front lines as a medic.
We spoke to Noam, 33, in Tel Aviv before the ceasefire was announced. “We cannot continue this war for much longer. We do not have the manpower necessary to continue operating without a clear end date and goal,” he said.
As an IDF reservist, Noam typically expects to do military duty for a few weeks a year. But last year he spent 250 days in uniform. He said that the war deprived him of the life he knew. Also, his plans to become a doctor were delayed by a year.
When we met Noam he was trying to complete his studies, but he was also waiting to find out if he would be called up again. His mood was defiant.
“I can't put my life on hold anymore,” he said. He said he would not return to his unit unless there was a radical change in the direction of the war. He's had enough.
The IDF already acknowledges that fewer reserves are now reporting for duty. After the attacks launched by Hamas on October 7 of last year, which killed about 1,200 people, more than 300,000 reserve soldiers responded. The participation rate exceeded 100%. Now it has decreased to 85%. Noam estimates that the response in his unit has been even lower — about 60% of those now called into service.
Reserves and conscripts are the lifeblood of the Israeli army. Brigadier General Ariel Hayman – also a reservist and former chief of reserve officers – says Israel is too small a country to have a large, expensive and professional regular army. He says that without reservists, the IDF would not be able to fight or survive.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Israeli army has 170,000 active-duty personnel, including conscripts, and 465,000 reserve soldiers.
Brigadier General Hayman admits that the IDF's reliance on reserves will become more difficult the longer the war lasts. He likened the Israeli army to a spring – if it is stretched too much, it will break. For now, he says he's adjusting.
But in a sign of tension, the Israeli army wants to extend mandatory service for male conscripts from 32 to 36 months.
The fact that the burden of service is not shared by everyone has also fueled resentment. One group has been exempt from military service for decades — thousands of Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, Jews. They believe that the lives of their youth should be devoted to religious studies and not to military service.
This issue has already divided the coalition government in Israel. However, after the prosecutor intervened, summons papers were sent to 7,000 Haredi Jewish men. They responded with angry protests. But Brigadier General Hayman, like ousted former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, says they have a “moral duty to serve.”
It requires not only personal sacrifice, but also economic sacrifice.
The Bank of Israel said in May that the cost of the war to Israel could reach $70bn (£55bn) by the end of next year, an estimate made before the ground invasion of Lebanon. Small businesses are among the hardest hit.
Food tech startup Shelly Lotan is among many companies struggling to survive. Chile has already been forced to move its operations from northern Israel to avoid Hezbollah missiles. Two of its seven employees were called up for military service.
On the morning we meet, at her home in Tel Aviv, Shelly has just received more bad news. She received a text message from one of her employees whose military service had been extended.
“I can't express how important it is to lose another employee for another month,” Shelley says.
“I can't even hire someone else or solve this gap.”
Shelley also had to juggle family life with three young children. Her husband, also a reservist, had to spend long periods of time away from home.
A ceasefire in Lebanon may ease some pressure. But there is still fighting in Gaza. Shelley Lotan fears for the future without a clear strategy by the Israeli government to end the conflict.
“I think the war should have ended by now,” she says.
