2. And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are
too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands,
lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
Judges 7 King James Version (KJV)
Israel - Reserves - Iron Swords
On Saturday morning, October 7th, without any advance notice and with a complete and utter surprise, Hamas launched a cruel and unbearably difficult war against the State of Israel , following which the Minister of Defense declared a state of emergency throughout the country - a situation that gives him extensive powers that are required for their preservation and/ or the saving of human life or property. Following the state of emergency declared by the Home Front Command, over 300,000 reservists were recruited under an emergency order, known as Order 8. The IDF stated that of the 300,000 reserve soldiers mobilized, about 51,000 of whom were women, and that the ages of about 24,000 reserve soldiers ranged between 50 and 70 years.
It was decided on a general mobilization of the reserve system in the air, on land and at sea and the beginning of the distribution of equipment, the refreshing of the forces, and the transfer of tools (tanks, APCs, artillery batteries, etc.) to the various sectors of operation in the south, north and center. According to a report in the "New York Times", signed by Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Ronen Bergman, tens of thousands of soldiers will participate in the ground operation. The order, according to the report, is to take over the Gaza Strip completely. whose aim is to destroy the Hamas leadership.
After that, a decision was made in the government, under American pressure, to settle the humanitarian issues in the Gaza Strip and only then start the ground operation. The date of the start of the ground maneuver was delayed - due to a wide variety of other considerations. There was quite a bit of criticism among the ground forces that the decision to delay the ground maneuver could damage the morale of the forces in the field, since most of them had finished their preparations and training and retraining in the various training centers. Also, it was decided to release reservists, while at this stage the scope of the release is not yet clear. "Reservists have businesses and jobs - the economy is suffering from this. Morale is high but we have to look ahead. It's going to be long according to what we understand and plan," explained the senior security official.
With the start of the fighting, hundreds of thousands of reservists from all over the country and the world mobilized ready and willing to fight, for a common goal - the security of the citizens of Israel, victory in the war. "We activated the entire reserve system for the benefit of protecting Israel and the surrounding area. We were deployed in all sectors," says Chief Reserve Officer, Brigadier General Bani Ben Ari, "the reserve system consists of all the people of Israel, from all sides and from all opinions and from all sectors. And he showed up in an amazing way without exception in all the units, in all the commands and arms and we are ready for all the tasks that will be assigned to us. The reserve formation proved once again that when needed it is there with all the power and with all the strengths it knows how to bring - and it did it in an amazing way."
The IDF began releasing reservists with uniforms back home - provided that they are available for deployment. Many of the soldiers are criticizing the decision, because beyond the delay in the ground operation there was uncertainty regarding the terms of service.
In February 2024, the Israeli economic newspaper Calcalist revealed that reserve soldiers in the Israeli army were forced to sell their military equipment in search of money, as a result of their lack of basic financial resources due to the war on the Gaza Strip. The newspaper said that dozens of reserve soldiers in the Israeli army published advertisements on social media, offering various combat equipment and tools at low prices. The newspaper published testimonies from soldiers who returned to their homes with “unused” special combat equipment, with a total value of tens and hundreds of thousands of shekels, confirming that some of them store this equipment in their homes for future use, while the rest prefer to sell it for financial gain.
The Soldiers' Complaints Commission in the Israeli army said 11 March 2024 that it recorded a 265% increase in complaints from reserve soldiers during the first 3 months of the war, compared to the same period in 2022. The report submitted by Commissioner Brigadier General (res.) Racheli Tevet Wezel to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee revealed that 54% of these complaints were justified.
The report stated that regular and reserve soldiers had submitted complaints regarding gaps in military equipment in various units since the start of the war. The complaints also included a lack of combat equipment, protective jackets, winter equipment, and tents. It added that the soldiers complained strongly about the lack of equipment for the fighters, in addition to complaints related to financial allocations and payments and others related to basic means of protection.
According to the report, which addressed the first three months of the Israeli war in Gaza , the recruitment of about 300,000 reserve soldiers and the summoning of regular forces to the south created a burden in the form of a bottleneck in the supplies of equipment, construction, and food. But as the fighting progressed, according to the report, conditions improved significantly.
During the visits made by the Commissioner to address soldiers’ complaints at some army bases, it was found that there were gaps in some bases in terms of food, infrastructure, living and work, as it was revealed that the living infrastructure was dilapidated and neglected, and faults were found in water, electricity and air conditioning, as well as health conditions. Deteriorated by the presence of mold, mice and cats.
The disclosure of this report comes at a time when the Israeli government is seeking to pass a draft law that excludes religious Jews ( Haredim ) from military service, and increases the period of compulsory service from 32 months to 36 months, while also applying this to current conscripts.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense announced 19 August 2024 the call-up of reserve soldiers who had been exempted from service in previous years, due to a shortage in the number of soldiers following a new security assessment. For its part, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the decision includes the return of 15,000 Israelis who performed regular service and were exempted from reserve service after being discharged from compulsory service 14 years ago, and they will be called up to perform reserve service 3 times next year. The newspaper said, "The decision will apply to those aged 35 or younger, as they will be returned to reserve service after being exempted from it."
The army explained, in a statement published on the "X" platform, that Defense Minister Yoav Galant ordered the re-calling of those who were in the reserves and were previously exempted due to the reduction in the number of forces, and who are still of service age. The statement added that the decision was taken based on a new assessment of the situation and the volume of activities of the regular and reserve forces, as part of the army's plan to increase the number of recruits. He pointed out that the army has already begun communicating with the relevant candidates who previously served in the basic formations, and those suitable among them will be assigned to return to service in the various units according to operational necessity.
In July 2024, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein, announced his intention to promote a bill that would allow the recruitment of reserve soldiers exempt from service, given the Israeli army’s urgent need for additional soldiers. In June 2024, the Israeli government approved a bill that would temporarily raise the age of exemption from reserve service. According to this law, reserve soldiers will serve until the age of 41, instead of the current 40 years, and reserve officers will serve until the age of 46, instead of the current 45 years.
In turn, the Israeli security establishment warned that not extending the service age could lead to difficulties in completing routine security tasks in war, according to the Hebrew website Walla. This came in light of the ongoing war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip since October 7.
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