{"id":41021,"date":"2023-12-28T07:28:49","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T07:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=41021"},"modified":"2023-12-28T07:28:50","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T07:28:50","slug":"israel-is-having-high-wounded-soldiers-amid-cost-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2023\/12\/28\/israel-is-having-high-wounded-soldiers-amid-cost-of-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel is having high wounded soldiers amid cost of war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Igor Tudoran spent just 12 hours\u00a0inside the Gaza Strip<\/strong>\u00a0before a missile slammed into his tank, leaving him with a life-altering injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlready within the tank, I understood from the condition of my leg that I would lose it. But the question was how much of it will I lose,\u201d he said, seated on a bed in the hospital where he has been treated since he was wounded last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tudoran, 27, a reservist who volunteered for duty after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas that triggered the war, lost his right leg beneath the hip. He has kept up a positive attitude \u2014 but concedes that his hopes of becoming an electrician may no longer be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tudoran is part of a swelling number of wounded Israeli fighters, yet another sizable\u00a0and deeply traumatized segment of Israeli society<\/strong>\u00a0whose struggles are emerging as a hidden cost of the war that will be felt acutely for years to come. Given the large numbers of wounded, advocates worry the country is not prepared to address their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have never seen a scope like this and an intensity like this,\u201d said Edan Kleiman, who heads the nonprofit Disabled Veterans Organization, which advocates for more than 50,000 soldiers wounded in this and earlier conflicts. \u201cWe must rehabilitate these people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s Defense Ministry says roughly 3,000 members of the country\u2019s security forces have been wounded since Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 240 people hostage. Nearly 900 of those are soldiers wounded since Israel began its ground offensive in late October, in which troops have engaged in close combat with Hamas militants. More than 160 soldiers have been killed since the ground operation began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey add up,\u201d said Yagil Levy, who teaches civil-military relations at Israel\u2019s Open University, of the wounded. \u201cThere could be a long-term impact if we see a big rate of people with disabilities that Israel must rehabilitate, which can produce economic issues as well as social issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The war has also brought unprecedented suffering to Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 21,000 have been killed, close to 55,000 wounded and amputations have become commonplace<\/strong>. Most of the tiny enclave\u2019s population has been displaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israelis still largely stand behind the war\u2019s objectives and it is mostly seen as an existential battle meant to restore a sense of security lost in Hamas\u2019 attacks. The media hardly cover the hardship<\/strong> endured by Palestinians, and their plight barely registers in Israeli public discourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a country with compulsory military service for most Jews, the fate of soldiers<\/strong> is a sensitive and emotional topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The names of fallen soldiers are announced at the top of hourly newscasts. Their funerals are packed with strangers who come to show solidarity. Their families receive generous support from the army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But historically the plight of the wounded, though lauded as heroes, has taken a backseat to the stories of soldiers killed in battle. After the fanfare surrounding tales of their service and survival recedes, the wounded are left to contend with a new reality that can be disorienting, challenging and, for some, lonely. Their numbers have not had significant bearing on public sentiment toward Israel\u2019s wars in the way that mounting soldiers\u2019 deaths have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exceptionally large numbers of wounded in this war, however, will provide a visible reminder of the conflict for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized their sacrifice during a recent visit to wounded soldiers at Sheba Medical Center, Israel\u2019s largest hospital, which has treated and rehabilitated many of the injured. \u201cYou are genuine heroes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Sheba, soldiers and civilians wounded in the war spilled out into the corridors on a recent day and passed the time with their families on an outdoor deck. Soccer paraphernalia adorned the wounded soldiers\u2019 hospital beds as did the ubiquitous Israeli flag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One man who had lost a leg after being attacked at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 lay in the sun on the hospital grounds, his wheelchair parked nearby. The Israeli pop diva Rita handed out hugs to some wounded soldiers. A military helicopter carrying more wounded landed nearby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli Defense Ministry said it was working at \u201cfull capacity\u201d to assist the wounded, and that it was cutting red tape and hiring employees to deal with the influx. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan Ben Hamou, 22, who lost his left leg beneath the knee after a rocket-propelled grenade struck the bulldozer he was using to help clear the way for other troops, is already looking forward to the day when he can use a state-funded prosthetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben Hamou, who mostly uses a wheelchair since the incident in early November, said that he eventually plans to pursue his goal of attending a military commanders\u2019 course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not ashamed of the wound,\u201d said Ben Hamou, who filmed the RPG\u2019s moment of impact as well as his evacuation to hospital. \u201cI was wounded for the country in a war inside Gaza. I am proud.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Kleiman, who himself was wounded in an operation in the Gaza Strip in the early 1990s, said he thinks Israeli authorities are not grasping the severity of the situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disabled veterans group is ramping up efforts to address what he suspects will be the overwhelming needs of a new cadre of wounded soldiers. He said the organization is tripling its manpower, adding therapists and employees to help wounded veterans navigate bureaucracy and upgrade rehab centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kleiman said the number of wounded is likely to stretch close to 20,000 once those diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder are included. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said if wounded soldiers don\u2019t receive the mental and physical care they need, including making their homes or cars accessible, it could stunt their rehabilitation and delay or even prevent their reentry into the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are wounded whose lives have been ruined,\u201d\u00a0said Idit Shafran Gittleman, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv research center.\u00a0\u201cThey will have to contend with their wound their entire lives.\u201d\u00a0
source:AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Igor Tudoran spent just 12 hours\u00a0inside the Gaza Strip\u00a0before a missile slammed into his tank, leaving him with a life-altering injury. \u201cAlready within the tank, I understood from the condition of my leg that I would lose it. But the question was how much of it will I lose,\u201d he said, seated on a bed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":41024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,12],"tags":[8217,5304,11394,10632,9252,5520,6848,8982,10767,539,5846,6778,9203,6738,12011,2629,10736,5930,9390,10598,6825,10825,11111,11294,3095,6259,9515,10454,5357,10634,11784,5572,5254,5058,7367,7693,11973,6821,9374,3174,7639,4224,5655,10416,5618,5374,3094,9178,214,11487,5251,13067,10028,594,9500],"class_list":["post-41021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-fitness","category-world-news","tag-army","tag-attack","tag-attacks","tag-attitude","tag-bed","tag-cars","tag-civilians","tag-combat","tag-conflict","tag-delay","tag-displaced","tag-engaged","tag-evacuation","tag-families","tag-festival","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-strip","tag-hamas","tag-helicopter","tag-homes","tag-hospital","tag-hostage","tag-injured","tag-injury","tag-israel","tag-jews","tag-killed","tag-killing","tag-lonely","tag-lost","tag-manpower","tag-military","tag-missile","tag-music","tag-music-festival","tag-national-security","tag-one","tag-palestinians","tag-population","tag-prime-minister","tag-rocket","tag-sacrifice","tag-security","tag-soccer","tag-soldiers","tag-sun","tag-tel-aviv","tag-troops","tag-university","tag-upgrade","tag-war","tag-wars","tag-wheelchair","tag-who","tag-wounded-soldiers"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41025,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41021\/revisions\/41025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}