Israel soldier commits suicide after receiving orders to return to Gaza

An Israeli occupation soldier has committed suicide after receiving an order to return to fighting in the Gaza Strip, local media reported yesterday.

Israel’s Walla news site said reserve soldier Eliran Mizrahi, a resident of the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank, took his own life on Friday upon receiving orders to return to combat in the Gaza Strip.

According to the site, Mizrahi was called up shortly after 7 October and was later sent into Gaza to fight, where he served as a combat engineer until he was injured in April.

Israel’s Channel 12 news said Mizrahi was recognised as a disabled IDF veteran and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on Wednesday, yet he received an order on Friday to report for duty in Rafah.

He then took his own life.

On Sunday, his family said the army is refusing to recognise his diagnosis or to recognise him as a “fallen soldier” and so he will not be given an army burial, because he was not in active during at the time of his suicide.

Haaretz has previously revealed that ten Israeli occupation officers and soldiers had committed suicide since 7 October.

In mid-March, the Israeli army acknowledged that it has been facing the biggest mental health crisis since 1973.

READ: Israel: Requests for psychological treatment tripled since October