{"id":302162,"date":"2025-09-01T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=302162"},"modified":"2025-08-30T17:21:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T16:21:38","slug":"he-got-out-of-gaza-but-gaza-did-not-get-out-of-him-israeli-soldiers-returning-from-war-struggle-with-trauma-and-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/09\/he-got-out-of-gaza-but-gaza-did-not-get-out-of-him-israeli-soldiers-returning-from-war-struggle-with-trauma-and-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He Got Out of Gaza, But Gaza Did Not Get Out of Him\u2019: Israeli Soldiers Returning from War Struggle with Trauma and Suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story contains details of suicide and violence that some readers may find upsetting.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A 40-year-old father of four, Eliran Mizrahi deployed to Gaza after the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military reservist returned a different person, traumatized by what he had witnessed in the war against Hamas<\/a> in the strip, his family told CNN. Six months after he was first sent to fight, he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) back at home. Before he was due to redeploy, he took his own life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got out of Gaza, but Gaza did not get out of him. And he died after it, because of the post-trauma,\u201d his mother, Jenny Mizrahi, said.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military has said it is providing care for thousands of soldiers who are suffering from PTSD or mental illnesses caused by trauma during the war. It is unclear how many have taken their own lives, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not provided an official figure.<\/p>\n

One year on, Israel\u2019s war in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, according to the health ministry in the strip, with the United Nations<\/a> reporting that most of the dead are women and children.<\/p>\n

The war, launched after Hamas killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, is already Israel\u2019s longest since the Jewish state was established. And as it now expands to Lebanon<\/a>, some soldiers say they dread being drafted into yet another conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of us are very scared of getting drafted again to a war in Lebanon,\u201d an IDF medic who served four months in Gaza told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. \u201cA lot of us don\u2019t trust the government right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israeli authorities \u2013 with rare exceptions<\/a> \u2013 have closed off Gaza to foreign journalists unless under IDF escort, making it difficult to capture the full extent of Palestinian suffering<\/a> or the experiences of soldiers there. Israeli soldiers who fought in the enclave told CNN they witnessed horrors the outside world can never truly comprehend. Their accounts offer a rare glimpse into the brutality of what critics have called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s \u201cforever war,\u201d<\/a> and the intangible toll it takes on the soldiers who participate.<\/p>\n

For many soldiers, the war in Gaza is a fight for Israel\u2019s survival and must be won by any means. But the battle is also taking a mental toll that, due to stigma, is largely hidden from view. Interviews with Israeli soldiers, a medic, and the family of Mizrahi, the reservist who took his own life, provide a window into the psychological burden that the war is casting on Israeli society.<\/p>\n

The mental health toll<\/h3>\n

Mizrahi deployed to Gaza on October 8 last year and was tasked with driving a D-9 bulldozer, a 62-ton armored vehicle that can withstand bullets and explosives.<\/p>\n

He was a civilian for most of his life, working as a manager at an Israeli construction company. After witnessing the massacres committed by Hamas, he felt the need to fight, Jenny told CNN.<\/p>\n

The reservist spent 186 days in the enclave until he sustained injuries to his knee, followed by hearing damage in February when a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) struck his vehicle, his family said. He was pulled out of Gaza for treatment, and in April was diagnosed with PTSD, receiving weekly talk therapy.<\/p>\n

His treatment did not help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t know how to treat them (soldiers),\u201d Jenny, who lives in the Israeli Ma\u2019ale Adumim settlement, in the occupied West Bank, said. \u201cThey (soldiers) said the war was so different. They saw things that were never seen in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Mizrahi was on leave, he suffered from bouts of anger, sweating, insomnia and social withdrawal, his family said.\u00a0He told his family that only those who were in Gaza with him could understand what he was going through.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always said, no one will understand what I saw,\u201d his sister, Shir, told CNN.<\/p>\n

Jenny wondered if her son killed someone and couldn\u2019t handle it.<\/p>\n

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Displaced Palestinians walk on a dirt road lined with building rubble in the Shejaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City. Omar Al-Qattaa\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cHe saw a lot of people die. Maybe he even killed someone. (But) we don\u2019t teach our children to do things like this,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, when he did this, something like this, maybe it was a shock for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guy Zaken, Mizrahi\u2019s friend and co-driver of the bulldozer, provided further insight into their experience in Gaza. \u201cWe saw very, very, very difficult things,\u201d Zaken told CNN. \u201cThings that are difficult to accept.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former soldier has spoken publicly about the psychological trauma endured by Israeli troops in Gaza. In a testimony<\/a> to the Knesset, Israel\u2019s parliament, in June, Zaken said that on many occasions, soldiers had to \u201crun over terrorists, dead and alive, in the hundreds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything squirts out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Zaken says he can no longer eat meat, as it reminds him of the gruesome scenes he witnessed from his bulldozer in Gaza, and struggles to sleep at night, the sound of explosions ringing in his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see a lot of meat outside, and blood\u2026 both ours and theirs (Hamas), then it really affects you when you eat,\u201d he told CNN, referring to bodies as \u201cmeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

He maintains that the vast majority of those he encountered were \u201cterrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe civilians we saw, we stopped and brought them water to drink, and we let them eat from our food,\u201d he recalled, adding that even in such situations, Hamas fighters would shoot at them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, there is no such thing as citizens,\u201d he said, referring to the ability of Hamas fighters to blend with civilians. \u201cThis is terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

When soldiers do encounter civilians, however, many face a moral dilemma, according to the IDF medic who spoke to CNN anonymously.<\/p>\n

There was a \u201cvery strong collective attitude\u201d of distrust among Israeli soldiers toward the Palestinians in Gaza, especially at the outset of the war, the medic said.<\/p>\n

There was a notion that Gazans, including civilians, \u201care bad, that they support Hamas, that they help Hamas, that they were hiding ammunition,\u201d the medic said.<\/p>\n

In the field, however, some of these attitudes changed \u201cwhen you actually see Gazan civilians in front of your eyes,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The IDF has said that it does all it can to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, including by sending text messages, making phone calls, and dropping evacuation leaflets to warn civilians ahead of attacks.<\/p>\n

Despite this, civilians in Gaza have been repeatedly killed in large numbers, including when sheltering in areas<\/a> the military itself has designated as \u201csafe zones.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mental health toll in Gaza is likely to be enormous. Relief groups<\/a> and the UN have repeatedly highlighted the catastrophic mental health consequences of the war on civilians in Gaza, many of whom had already been scarred by a 17-year blockade and several wars with Israel. In an August report,<\/a> the UN said the experiences of Gazans defy \u201ctraditional biomedical definitions\u201d of PTSD, \u201cgiven that there is no \u2018post\u2019 in Gaza\u2019s context.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Mizrahi took his own life, videos and photos surfaced on social media of the reservist bulldozing homes and buildings in Gaza and posing in front of vandalized structures. Some of the images, which were purportedly posted on his now removed social media accounts, appeared in a documentary that he was interviewed for on Israel\u2019s Channel 13.<\/p>\n

His sister, Shir, said she saw a lot of comments on social media accusing Mizrahi of being \u201ca murderer,\u201d cursing at him and replying with unpleasant emojis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard,\u201d she said, adding that she tried her best to overlook it. \u201cI know he had a good heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearing dead people with debris<\/h3>\n

Ahron Bregman, a political scientist at King\u2019s College London who served in the Israeli army for six years, including during the 1982 Lebanon War, said the Gaza war is unlike any other fought by Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very long,\u201d he said, and it is urban, which means soldiers fight among many people, \u201cthe vast majority of them are civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bulldozer operators are among those who are most directly exposed to the war\u2019s brutality, Bregman said. \u201cWhat they see is dead people, and they clear them (along) with the debris,\u201d he told CNN. \u201cThey go over them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many, the transition from the battlefield back to civilian life can be overwhelming, especially after urban warfare that involves the deaths of women and children, Bregman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you put your children to bed when, you know, you saw children killed in Gaza?\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Mizrahi\u2019s PTSD, his family said he agreed to return to Gaza when he was called up again. Two days before he was meant to re-deploy, he killed himself.<\/p>\n

In her home, Jenny has dedicated a room to memorialize her late son, with photos from his childhood and working in construction. Among the objects his mother has kept was the cap Mizrahi was wearing when he shot himself in the head, the bullet holes clearly visible.<\/p>\n

Mizrahi\u2019s family started speaking out about his death after the IDF did not grant him a military burial, saying he had not been \u201cin active reserve duty.\u201d They later reversed their decision.<\/p>\n

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported<\/a> that 10 soldiers took their own lives between October 7 and May 11, according to military data obtained by the newspaper.<\/p>\n

Asked by CNN about the number of suicides in the IDF since the war, Uzi Bechor, a psychologist and commander of the IDF\u2019s Combat Response Unit, said the medical corps is not allowed to provide a figure, and the military sees the suicide rate as largely unchanged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suicide rate in the army is more or less stable in the last five or six years,\u201d Bechor said, noting that it has in fact been falling over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n

Even if the number of suicides is higher, he said, the ratio so far \u201cis quite the same from the previous year because we have more soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that there is a trend of more suicide,\u201d Bechor told CNN.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t provide CNN with the number of suicides or their rate. \u201cEvery case for us is heartbreaking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, more than a third of those removed from combat are found to have mental health issues. In a statement in August, the Israeli defense ministry\u2019s rehabilitation division said that every month, more than 1,000 new wounded soldiers are removed from fighting for treatment, 35% of whom complain about their mental state, with 27% developing \u201ca mental reaction or post-traumatic stress disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added that by the end of the year, 14,000 wounded fighters will likely be admitted for treatment, approximately 40% of whom are expected to face mental health issues.<\/p>\n

More than 500 people die by suicide in Israel and over 6,000 others attempt suicide every year, according to the country\u2019s ministry of health<\/a>, which notes that \u201cthere is under-reporting of approximately 23% in the numbers mentioned.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2021, suicide was the leading cause of death among IDF soldiers, the Times of Israel reported<\/a>, citing military data that showed at least 11 soldiers had taken their own lives that year.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the ministry of health<\/a> sought to \u201cdebunk rumors of rising suicide rates since October 7,\u201d saying that the reported cases are \u201cisolated incidents in the media and in social media.\u201d Without providing numbers, the ministry said that there was a\u00a0\u201cdecrease in suicide in Israel between October and December in comparison with the same months in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bregman, the Lebanon war veteran, said that PTSD and other mental health issues are now easier to talk about than in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to the diminishing stigma. Still, he said, the soldiers coming out of Gaza will \u201ccarry (their experiences) for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IDF medic who spoke to CNN said that there is a mental health officer designated to every unit of the army during and after deployment. The impact of the war nonetheless persists, the medic said, with soldiers as young as 18 suffering from mental trauma in Gaza. They would often cry or would appear emotionally numb, the medic added.<\/p>\n

Normalizing the abnormal<\/h3>\n

Bechor, the IDF psychologist, said that one of the ways the military helps traumatized troops resume their lives is to try to \u201cnormalize\u201d what they went through, partly by reminding them of the horrors committed on October 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis situation is not normal for human beings,\u201d Bechor said, adding that when soldiers come back from the battlefield with PTSD symptoms, they ask: \u201cHow do I get back home after what I saw? How do I get to engage with my kids after what I saw?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to normalize it and to help them remember their values and why did they go there (to Gaza),\u201d he told CNN.<\/p>\n

For the tens of thousands of Israelis who volunteered or were called up to fight, the war in Gaza was seen not only seen as an act of self-defense but as an existential battle. That notion was touted by top Israeli political and military leaders, as well as Israel\u2019s international allies.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has described<\/a> Hamas as \u201cthe new Nazis\u201d and US President Joe Biden<\/a> has said that the \u201cancient hatred of Jews\u201d endorsed by the Nazis was \u201cbrought back to life\u201d on October 7.<\/p>\n

The external threats to their country unified many Israelis, putting on hold domestic political squabbling that had for months divided society. Meanwhile, the suffering of Palestinians has largely been absent from Israeli television screens, which are dominated by news about the hostages in Gaza.<\/p>\n

After the Hamas attacks, polls showed that most Israelis supported the war in Gaza, and did not want their government to halt the fighting even while negotiating to release the kidnapped hostages. On the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack, a survey<\/a> published by the Israel Democracy Institute found that only 6% of Israelis think the war in Gaza should be stopped due to the \u201cthe great cost in human life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some soldiers, however, couldn\u2019t rationalize the horrors they had seen.<\/p>\n

When he returned from Gaza, Mizrahi often told his family that he felt \u201cinvisible blood\u201d coming out of him, his mother said.<\/p>\n

Shir, his sister, blames the war for her brother\u2019s death. \u201cBecause of the army, because of this war, my brother is not here,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe he didn\u2019t die from a bullet (in combat) or an RPG, but he died from an invisible bullet,\u201d she added, referring to his psychological pain.<\/p>\n

**************<\/div>\n

The editor\u2019s note on this story has been updated.<\/p>\n

What is Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? PTSD is a mental health condition caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events, according to the UK National Health Service. Someone with PTSD often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt. PTSD can develop immediately after someone experiences a disturbing event, or it can occur weeks, months or even years later.<\/p>\n

Go to Original – msn.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR HUMAN JUSTICE!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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