Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the number of Israeli soldiers seeking psychological support since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip has increased six-fold.
The Ministry of Defence’s helpline has noted a dramatic increase in distress calls from reservists and soldiers, along with their families, the newspaper reported.
Just last week, the hotline received four inquiries with suicidal characteristics that required the immediate intervention of the police, the report added.
According to data by the NTL association which operates the helpline, between October 2022 and June 2023, before the war, the hotline was required to contact the police 35 times due to fear of suicide.
A year later, the number jumped to 86 – a 145 percent increase. The data shows that the number of references has also jumped six-fold compared to before the war, and that in recent weeks the number of requests at night has doubled.
The Israeli army has confirmed that tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers have called up a mental health hotline since the outbreak of the Gaza Strip on October 7.
Since Israel launched the war October last year in response to Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, around 39,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured more than 89,700 others.
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