The Cradle
29 July, 2026
▪️ According to Haaretz, two female Israeli soldiers died by suicide over the past two days, prompting investigations by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID). One was a combat soldier serving in the Bardelas Battalion, who was found injured at a base in southern Israel before dying on Tuesday. The other served in a classified role within the Military Intelligence Directorate and died two days earlier at the Glilot base near Ramat Hasharon. The findings will be reviewed by the Military Advocate General’s Office once the investigations are complete.
▪️ The deaths bring the number of active-duty Israeli soldiers who have died by suicide since the beginning of 2026 to at least 16. Haaretz reports that at least nine additional soldiers, including both regular and reserve personnel who served during the war but had already completed active service, also died by suicide this year. The figures point to a worsening mental health crisis within the Israeli military since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
▪️ Haaretz notes that before 7 October 2023, the Israeli military averaged 12 suicides per year over the previous decade. Since the genocide began, the numbers have risen sharply: 7 active-duty soldiers died by suicide between 7 October and the end of 2023, 21 in 2024, and 22 in 2025; the highest annual figure in 15 years. While the military says it has found no consistent demographic or service-related pattern among the cases and attributes part of the increase to the expanded size of the armed forces, particularly the reserve component, it acknowledges that some suicides are directly linked to wartime service.
▪️ The report highlights several such cases, including Eliran Mizrahi, a reserve D9 bulldozer operator who served for months in Gaza before dying by suicide in June 2024 after being diagnosed with PTSD. It also cites an armored corps soldier with PTSD who returned to reserve duty before taking his own life, and a reserve paramedic who treated casualties near Re’im. Haaretz further reports that a lieutenant colonel died by suicide in January after acquaintances said prolonged mistreatment by the military, the refusal to fund medical treatment, and mounting debts had severely damaged his mental health.
The Most Revolutionary Act 