The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has launched a review of reservists with severe psychological injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), amid mounting scrutiny over its mental health support systems.
The new policy, quietly implemented last week, targets reservists formally recognized by the Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation Department as having a 30% or greater mental health disability—indicating moderate to significant long-term impairment affecting daily life and work.
Under the policy, these reservists will meet with military mental health officers to assess their fitness for continued service. The move, finalized three weeks ago after months of internal review, is framed as addressing long-standing gaps in data-sharing between the IDF and Defense Ministry, not a direct response to recent suicides.
However, its timing has raised questions: July saw a string of high-profile soldier suicides, including reservist Daniel Edri (July 5), a southern base soldier (July 9), a northern soldier (July 14), and Norwegian lone soldier Cpl. Dan Phillipson (July 15).The review follows earlier revelations that hundreds of psychologically injured veterans were called up for reserve duty without the IDF knowing their conditions.
A May Haaretz report exposed the military’s lack of access to complete mental health disability data; without self-reporting, soldiers’ PTSD diagnoses often went unrecorded.
This led to traumatized soldiers—some with state-classified long-term disabilities—being unknowingly redeployed to combat zones, a practice mental health experts decry.
Prof. Eyal Fruchter, former head of the IDF’s Mental Health Department, warned that redeploying those with PTSD drastically increases the risk of chronic symptoms. “It’s a particularly bad idea to send high-risk people back to battle,” he said, citing manpower shortages as a likely reason for ignoring the danger.
Official data shows 7 active-duty suicides in late 2023, 21 in 2024, and at least 17 so far in 2025 (excluding off-duty cases). The new policy requires emergency-call-up reservists to undergo mental health assessments within three days, with appeals allowed.
While no formal discharges have occurred, one reservist reported being abruptly terminated mid-route to Gaza, describing the call as “insensitive” after 400+ days of service.
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