IDF has had 15,000 soldiers killed, wounded in Gaza war, says former defence minister

Former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon has said that as many as 15,000 soldiers have been killed or wounded in the genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip since 7 October, 2023.

Ya’alon told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that the war in Gaza Strip resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries among soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). He stressed the need to pass a law that ends exemptions given to ultra-Orthodox Jews from compulsory service in order to compensate for the severe shortage of manpower in the IDF.

Moreover, Ya’alon said that the Americans’ involvement in the Gaza ceasefire and hostage negotiations in Qatar came as a result of Israel’s failure to fulfil its commitments under the deal for political reasons. He explained that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to buy time, and replaced the professional negotiating team with another one that is more politically subservient to him.

Regarding the appointment of the new IDF Chief of Staff, General Eyal Zamir, and the high hopes that Netanyahu and his government have for victory in Gaza, Ya’alon said that both Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have pinned the military’s failure in Gaza on the outgoing Chief of Staff and now they have high hopes on Zamir, even though the military is meant to implement the will of the political leadership, and winning a war does not rely solely on the Chief of Staff.

READ: Despite ceasefire, 7 more Gazans killed by Israel as death toll reaches 48,515