The authorities fear that acknowledging the large losses of the regular army from irregular forces may raise doubts in Israeli society.
Author: Nikolai Plotnikov, head of the Center for Scientific and Analytical Information of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Political Sciences.
In the Israeli media, publications on the real losses of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and other security forces during the fighting in the Gaza Strip began to appear more and more often.
The most sensational, causing a huge resonance, especially in the Arab world and Iran, was the investigation of the Israeli journalist Ariel Shimon from the Yediot Ahronot newspaper, who was fired from there after the appearance of his scandalous publication. But the original of the journalist’s report could not be found, even in Hebrew. However, many Arab and Iranian publications published links to the alleged investigation.
According to Ariel Shimon, the IDF press service reports losses in doses. Moreover, it makes statements only about the dead. The true number of wounded servicemen and the number of disabled military and special equipment are kept silent. All medical institutions where the wounded are admitted have received instructions from the IDF press service not to make any statements.
According to the journalist, the number of dead Israeli soldiers is many times higher than officially recognized. As of December 9, the official casualty figure for the IDF and other security forces was 418 troops. The actual number of deaths on this date was, according to Ariel Shimon, 3850 soldiers and officers.
Officially, the IDF press service announced approximately one thousand wounded. In reality, says Ariel Shimon, the number of wounded exceeded 7,000 military personnel. Of these, 3,700 became disabled. Among them are more than 250 soldiers and officers who have completely lost their sight.
During the fighting, more than 500 armored combat vehicles of all types (tanks, armored personnel carriers, army vehicles) and army bulldozers were completely or partially disabled.
Ariel Shimon believes that if it were not for the support of the United States, Israel would have had a difficult time. He accused the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and the prime minister himself of deliberately concealing from the Israeli public the true data on IDF losses in the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Casualty data disseminated by several Arab and Iranian media with references to Ariel Shimon indirectly confirms the reports of the Israeli news website Unet, which is an online edition of the Yediot Ahronot newspaper. Thus, on December 9, 2023, with references to the head of the rehabilitation department of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Limor Luria, a message appeared on the website that every day the rehabilitation unit received about 60 new wounded from among the security forces and reservists, not counting IDF soldiers. This indicates that the actual number of casualties may be higher than the official figures.
Limor Luria pointed out that more than 58 percent of the wounded have serious injuries to the arms and legs, including those requiring amputation. About 12 percent are injuries to internal organs - spleen, kidneys, ruptures of internal organs. About 7 percent of military personnel suffer from mental disorders.
The growing number of casualties among IDF troops and security forces and the uncertainty of the fate of the remaining Hamas hostages are provoking growing discontent in Israeli society with the Netanyahu government, which is beginning to emerge despite the creation in Israel of a highly disciplined media system that is completely subordinate to the IDF command.
The authorities fear that the recognition of large losses of the regular army from irregular forces may raise doubts in Israeli society about the effectiveness of the created security system, on which billions of taxpayers' money have been spent.
