Liberation: Israeli soldiers returning from Gaza will face a huge psychological crisis.

A newspaper reported that the number of mothers of Israeli soldiers who accuse the army of not protecting their sons enough and demand a halt to the fighting in the Gaza Strip has increased with the escalation of violence in the war in Gaza.

The newspaper noted that signs of a new discourse within Israeli society have begun to emerge since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023. This discourse, coming from the margins of public opinion, is expanding and speaks about the suffering of the Israeli soldiers themselves and the psychological and emotional toll paid by them and their families.

Although military service is a national duty in Israel and a necessity for the security of the state, the long-term effects of the war, along with increasing testimonies about psychological trauma and suicides, have led some families, especially mothers, to question the legitimacy of continuing this war.

One of the most prominent groups that has emerged in this context is the "Mothers' Cry" movement, which was founded in November 2023, one month after the outbreak of the war, and is led by women from leftist backgrounds, most notably Michal Brody Barikhet, a mother of three sons, one of whom completed his service in Gaza.

Peace activist Michal strongly criticizes sending youth to fight in Gaza, stating that they "do not protect Israel, but rather become themselves in constant danger," pointing out that they guard comprehensive destruction operations of buildings in the Gaza Strip, without full awareness of the consequences.

Michal has faced violence from Israeli citizens and has encountered assaults from the police, revealing the sensitivity of the stance she and her colleagues adopt, as some Israelis consider any opposition to the war a form of national treason. Nevertheless, her second son insists on joining the army in December.

Despite this, the correspondent notes that there are cases where mothers have succeeded in getting their sons out of the army, such as Shani Hadar, a writer in her fifties, who fought by all means to free her son from service after he suffered from depression and exhibited suicidal tendencies due to what he witnessed on the front.

According to Shani Hadar's testimony, the army did not respond to her son's request for exemption and threatened him with imprisonment instead of treatment. She states that she preferred her son to be imprisoned rather than return to Gaza, emphasizing that the stigma of "treason" still affects anyone who refuses to fight, even if they are mentally ill.

The correspondent recounts the story of Jenny Mizrahi, a mother who lost her only son, who returned after a long service in Gaza psychologically shattered, became angry with his children, and refused to talk about his experience. Despite being injured three times, he continued to request to return to combat until he committed suicide hours after a meeting with his unit's leadership.

Jenny says the irony lies in the fact that she and her family encouraged their son to return to combat, thinking it might help him psychologically, only to discover now that she was wrong and that Israeli society does not recognize the extent of the psychological crisis that soldiers will face upon returning to civilian life.

The correspondent highlighted statistics from Haaretz, which reported that 7 Israeli soldiers committed suicide at the end of 2023, 21 in 2024, and 15 during the first half of 2025 alone, a record number.

The correspondent concluded her report with a clear warning that Israel will face a massive psychological crisis when the soldiers return from Gaza, as there is a collective trauma forming beneath the surface, now expressed by mothers, but state institutions and Israeli society in general have not yet begun to address it seriously.

The correspondent concluded that the anti-militarization discourse is growing, driven by a tragic reality on the ground, where thousands of soldiers suffer from the effects of war, and their mothers watch their sons collapse, while the army does not do enough to protect them, neither from enemies nor from themselves.