As Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza grinds into its third year, leaving over 60,000 Palestinians dead—mostly women and children—and entire cities reduced to rubble, the Israeli occupation army is crumbling from within.

A shocking wave of soldier suicides, fueled by the unbearable moral weight of massacring civilians and the psychological scars of endless atrocities, has exposed the utter failure of Benjamin Netanyahu's blood-soaked policies. What was sold as a righteous "self-defense" campaign has morphed into a soul-crushing nightmare for the very troops forced to carry it out, with their despair now spilling over into Israeli society like a toxic stain.

This week alone, two more reserve soldiers took their own lives, their final moments drenched in agony. One, in a heartbreaking social media post just before his death, scrawled: “I can no longer endure. With tears in my eyes, I bid you farewell. We shall meet again with the Messiah.”

These tragedies mark the 12th confirmed suicide among Israeli forces in the last four months, a grim tally that Israeli media can no longer bury under layers of propaganda.

But the true horror runs far deeper: a bombshell Knesset report, released just days ago, reveals that since January 2024, at least 279 soldiers have attempted suicide—with seven failed bids for every successful one.

That's not a statistic; it's a scream from the ranks, a direct indictment of the Israeli regime's criminal insistence on prolonging a war the International Court of Justice has already branded as genocide.

This isn't isolated despair—it's the inevitable fallout from Netanyahu's barbaric blueprint for Gaza, where occupation forces have systematically obliterated hospitals, schools, and refugee camps under the flimsy guise of "eliminating Hamas." Tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians—innocent families, medics, journalists, and children—have been slaughtered in what human rights groups like B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel have unflinchingly called a deliberate campaign of extermination.

Israeli troops, many of them ordinary reservists yanked from civilian lives and thrust into this hellscape, are now haunted by the ghosts of their own actions: the charred bodies of babies pulled from bombed-out homes, the wails of orphans amid the ruins, the looting of Palestinian homes captured in viral videos of soldiers desecrating children's toys and burning families' memories.

No wonder combat soldiers now account for 78% of all military suicides in 2024—a staggering leap from pre-war years—while thousands more suffer untreated PTSD, their pleas for help drowned out by the regime's war drums.

Israeli outlets like Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth, once cheerleaders for the occupation, now admit the army's mental health units are "overwhelmed," with hundreds exhibiting severe post-traumatic symptoms but too terrified of stigma—or worse, reassignment to Gaza's killing fields—to seek care.

Arab media, including Al-Mayadeen and Arabi21, paint an even starker picture: waves of guilt and breakdown rippling through units that have participated in the deliberate starvation of Gaza's 2.3 million people, the destruction of its healthcare system, and the mass graves unearthed in the Strip's desecrated earth.

One reservist, discharged just 24 hours after Gaza rotations, ended it all—his suicide a silent verdict on the "moral army" myth Netanyahu peddles to the world.

The numbers are damning: Since the war's launch on October 7, 2023, at least 43 soldiers have died by suicide, with 21 in 2024 alone—the highest toll in over a decade—and 16 more in 2025 so far.

Add to that nearly 10,000 wounded soldiers grappling with psychological wounds, and you've got an occupation force on the brink of collapse.

The IOF's own probes link this "suicide epidemic" directly to Gaza's horrors: prolonged combat rotations, the daily grind of witnessing (and committing) war crimes, and the soul-eroding fatigue of enforcing an apartheid siege that the International Criminal Court has already targeted with arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his cronies.

Yet, in a grotesque twist, the Israeli government clings to its state of emergency, dragging reservists back into the meat grinder despite the mounting body count on both sides of the razor wire. Social researchers warn that this compulsory service—coupled with relentless societal pressure to "stay patriotic" amid the stench of genocide—has supercharged the crisis.

Even within Israel, cracks are widening: Over 130 soldiers recently signed an open letter refusing further service until a ceasefire is secured, decrying how the war endangers hostages and civilians alike.

Knesset member Ofer Cassif, who commissioned the report, calls it a "wake-up call" for real support systems—and, crucially, an end to the wars fueling this madness.

As Palestinian blood soaks Gaza's soil and the world watches in horror, these suicides aren't just personal tragedies—they're the regime's confession. Netanyahu's genocidal policies, propped up by unchecked U.S. arms and Western complicity, are devouring Israel's youth from the inside out. The moral collapse isn't coming; it's here, etched in every soldier's final note and every Palestinian family's unimaginable loss. The question echoing from Gaza's ruins to Tel Aviv's halls: How many more lives must shatter before the occupation's architects face justice? (ILKHA)