The IOF officially admits to 793 soldiers dead and over 12,000 wounded since the start of the war. Internal numbers from the IOF manpower directorate show that they are short two divisions, roughly 20k soldiers, compared to where they should be. This represents nearly 20% of the IOF’s overall strength.
Now, a part of this is because, according to these same sources, as many as a third of new draftees do not finish their recruitment, 15% of new recruits desert, and a great deal of reservists have not responded to their summonses.
The consequences for refusal are not severe, especially for the wealthy and well-connected, and causalities are so high on the front lines that thousands of Zionists would rather suffer the consequences of draft dodging than face Al-Qassam or Hezbollah. According to the government, 20,000 non-combat and 18,000 combat soldiers have refused their summons.
Similarly, summonses among the ultra-orthodox are mostly ignored (only 4% respond, according to Zionist sources), and since this voting bloc is absolutely vital for the Netanyahu regime to maintain power in the face of massive protests all throughout Occupied Palestine, the government takes no action against them.
However, this alone does not explain the shortfall of two entire divisions. Evidence is mounting that the Zionist entity is hiding it’s true causalities. Former Major General Noam Tibon said as much openly on Hebrew channel 12:
Unfortunately, the Israeli army is not telling the truth. We are short of 10,000 soldiers in this war, the equivalent of a full division.”
He then admitted that between the dead and wounded, another division was lost, bringing his numbers in line with the IOF manpower directorate.
The IOF has been suffering heavy causalities as of late. In October, they suffered over 1000, and in the first week of November they admitted to over 300. Deaths are lower than expected due to the advent of body armor and improvements in trauma care, but injuries have remained high. Even then, many of these soldiers will return to combat, so this alone cannot explain the IOF’s manpower shortages.
Despite their triumphant crowing in public, the reality is much different. A deadly combination of heavy causalities, low morale and legal impunity for certain, “chosen” sectors of society has led to the IOF crumbling in reality.
As they push into Lebanon and are forced to fight a real army instead of women and children, this process will only accelerate. Already, Zionists are calling to increase conscription times to three years to cover shortfalls, and there have been desperate attempts to recruit the ultra-orthodox, who are violently refusing. The longer the war goes on, the worse this problem becomes for the Zionist entity.
