Israeli army warns of ‘mass personnel exodus’ amid surge in resignations: Report

JERUSALEM/ ISTANBUL

The Israeli army warned of “mass personnel exodus” amid a surge in resignation requests by officers and soldiers, local media said Tuesday.

The Israeli army is suffering from a “mass exodus of officers and non-commissioned officers after they submitted resignation requests,” the daily Yedioth Ahronoth said.

“So far, there have been 500 requests from officers and NCOs in the regular forces seeking to be relieved of their positions in the army,” the paper said, without specifying when these requests were submitted.

The army is “warning of a steady rise in resignation requests, indicating a real manpower crisis affecting all age groups and military ranks, which has now reached a boiling point.”

The Israeli army expects more resignation requests from permanent personnel serving in the regular forces, the daily said.

According to the report, the Knesset has yet to approve legal amendments allowing an increase in pension entitlements for officers and soldiers by rates ranging between 7-11%.

The newspaper explained that the 500 resignation requests were submitted by permanent personnel in regular service, not reservists, and stem from low salaries amid significant attrition from military service, particularly during the war on the Gaza Strip.

The army is “struggling to convince thousands of officers and non-commissioned officers to continue permanent service, with the expected outcome being a decline in the army’s overall performance,”

Israel has killed nearly 70,700 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 171,000 in Gaza since October 2023 and reduced the enclave to rubble.