“The army is experiencing intensifying personnel shortages,” Ynetnews, the website for Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, reported on Friday.
The military, it added, “urgently requires an additional 7,000 soldiers, with half of these intended for combat roles.”
“It’s crucial to note that this figure is over and above the soldiers already slated for recruitment in upcoming cycles.”
The regime’s treasury is, however, only approving 2,500 additional forces.
These “unprecedented” figures underscore the “shock” that was being experienced by the Israeli military in the wake of nearly 150 days of the war, the website said.
The Israeli regime began waging the onslaught against Gaza on October 7, following al-Aqsa Storm, a surprise operation staged by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups against the occupied territories.
At least 30,228 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 71,377 others been injured so far during the war.
Ynet noted, meanwhile, that approximately 582 troops had been killed in the war. “Several more are physically and psychologically wounded, to the extent that they are unable to return to their roles,” it added.
On Wednesday, the Israeli minister for military affairs highlighted the heavy toll the war was inflicting on the regime’s military.
“We are paying a very high price in our ranks…The costs we incur in terms of the numbers of deaths and injuries are very high,” he said.
Despite causing a massive death toll and suffering fatalities, the Israeli military has stopped short of achieving the goals that it has been seeking to score through the war, such as “destroying” Hamas, finding the captives that the Gaza-based resistance movement is holding, and bringing about forced displacement of the Palestinian territory’s population to neighboring Egypt.
