Israeli military spokesman Avi Duvrin said Thursday that the army does not intend to release official data on suicides among its soldiers in 2025, despite increasing reports of an increase in the phenomenon due to the repercussions of the war on Gaza.
In response to a reporter's question during a press conference, Dufresne simply said, "Every soldier is dear to us, but we cannot disclose everything to the public. That's normal."
Hebrew media outlets, including Ma'ariv, Channel 12, and the Walla news website, reported four suicide attempts within the army over the past two weeks, three of which resulted in death.
In the same context, the Israeli Army Radio reported that the Manpower Department refused to disclose the actual number of soldiers who committed suicide, while nine of the 25 members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee sent a letter to committee chairman Yuli Edelstein requesting an emergency session to discuss the issue.
According to previous official data, 21 suicides among soldiers were recorded last year, the highest number in more than a decade, compared to 17 suicides in 2023. Israeli reports confirm that the ongoing war has exacerbated the phenomenon.
During the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, 893 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 6,108 wounded, according to military data, although observers indicate that the actual numbers may be even higher.
Meanwhile, Israel, with American support, continues to commit genocide in Gaza, leaving more than 198,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, in addition to more than 10,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has claimed the lives of many.
Saraya al-Quds: Killing and wounding "undercover" soldiers in Khan Yunis
In a simultaneous development on the ground, the Al-Quds Brigades announced on Thursday that it had targeted a force from the Israeli army's "Musta'ribeen" unit, which was traveling in a vehicle on Jalal Street in the center of Khan Yunis, south of Gaza.
The brigades said in a Telegram post that they hit the vehicle with an RPG, followed by a direct clash with machine guns and hand grenades, resulting in "the killing and wounding of a number of members of the force." As of 3:00 PM GMT, the army had not commented on the operation.
The "Musta'ribeen" are a special unit in the Israeli occupation army, trained to infiltrate the Palestinian population using local clothing and dialects, and sometimes including some Druze recruits, according to Israeli research centers.
This unit has been routinely used for special missions, including infiltration, assassinations, booby-trapping buildings, and searching for tunnels, since the start of the ground incursion into Gaza. Earlier Thursday, the Al-Quds Brigades also announced shelling of the settlements of Sderot, Meflasim, and Nir Oz, adjacent to the Strip.
Bombing of Sweida: A Druze Protection Cover
In the same context, an Israeli military spokesperson announced during a press conference that the army bombed more than 100 targets in the Suwayda Governorate in southern Syria, allegedly targeting military vehicles.
This came after bloody clashes erupted between Druze and Bedouin militants in Sweida, prompting Syrian army forces to intervene to restore order.
Under the pretext of "protecting the Druze," Israel has escalated its attacks on Syria in recent days, including bombing the General Staff and the vicinity of the presidential palace in Damascus on Wednesday, according to Hebrew media.
This coincided with hundreds of Israeli Druze storming the border with Syria, amid hints from Haaretz of Israeli military complicity in the move.
In a previous joint statement, most Druze leaders in Syria emphasized their rejection of any foreign interference and their commitment to the country's unity.
