Yedioth Ahronoth revealed in a report published today, Sunday, that no less than 10,000 soldiers were killed or wounded during the long months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to data from the Rehabilitation Administration of the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
The Israeli newspaper did not specify the actual number of dead and wounded, but added that about 1,000 new soldiers join the rehabilitation center of the Israeli Ministry of Defense every month.
The newspaper pointed out that the legislation of the law to extend compulsory service left regular soldiers in the Israeli army in a state of extreme frustration and question marks, noting that the Knesset entered its summer vacation this week without completing the law to extend military service from two years and eight months to three years.
The newspaper added that in the meantime, the anger of many soldiers who are supposed to be discharged from service next month is growing, especially those who spent nearly 10 consecutive months on the battlefields in the Gaza Strip, and do not yet know how to plan their future, whether in terms of traveling abroad or joining academic studies next October or other future plans.
The newspaper quoted the father of a fighter in the Nahal Brigade, who is currently in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, as saying: "There has never been such a situation in the history of Israeli wars, not even in 1948, where soldiers fight inside enemy territory, in unfavorable conditions, for 10 consecutive months. Our children take it seriously. They are embarrassed to file a formal complaint."
The newspaper said that the female soldiers who are on watch in the northern Golan Heights were informed in recent days that they will serve another four months, even though they were supposed to be discharged next month.
One of the mothers of the female soldiers who were present at the scene said: "They were informed of this without any explanation or answers."
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