War-weary Israeli reservists wait for the fighting to end

Israel’s war on several fronts not only exhausted the enemy. It didn’t just take the lives of thousands of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. He also continues to extract the price from his people.

Israel is increasingly war-weary. The recent ceasefire agreement with Lebanon will come as a relief to many. Last but not least for Noam Hlukhovsky, an IDF reservist who spent most of last year on the front lines as a medic.

We spoke to Noam, 33, in Tel Aviv before the ceasefire was announced. “We cannot continue this war for much longer. We just don’t have enough staff to continue without a clear end date and goal,” he said.

As an IDF reservist, Noam would normally expect to complete several weeks of military service per year. But last year he spent 250 days in pursuit. The war, he said, tore him away from the life he knew. His plans to become a doctor have also been pushed back a year.

When we meet, Noam was trying to catch up on his studies, but was also waiting to see if he would be called back. His mood was defiant.

“I can no longer put my life on hold,” he said. He said he would not return to his unit unless there was a drastic change in the direction of the war. He had had enough.

The IDF already admits that fewer reservists are coming into service now. More than 300,000 reservists responded after the Hamas attacks on October 7 last year, which killed around 1,200 people. The turnout exceeded 100%. Now it has fallen to 85%. According to Noam, the response in his unit is even lower – about 60% of the draftees now come to the service.

Reservists and conscripts are the lifeblood of the Israel Defense Forces. Brigadier General Ariel Heyman – also a reservist and former chief reserve officer – says Israel is too small a country to have a large, expensive, professional, regular army. According to him, the IDF would not be able to fight or survive without reservists.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the IDF has 170,000 active troops, including conscripts, and 465,000 reserves.

Brigadier General Hayman acknowledges that the IDF’s reliance on reserves will become more difficult the longer the war drags on. He compared the IDF to a spring – if it is stretched too much, it will break. For now, he says he’s coping.

But as a sign of tension, the IDF wants to extend mandatory service for male conscripts from 32 to 36 months.

The fact that the burden of service does not fall on everyone also fueled the feeling of resentment. One group has been exempted from military service for decades — thousands of Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, Jews. They believe that the lives of their young people should be devoted to religious studies, not to military service.

This issue has already divided Israel’s coalition government. But after the intervention of the Attorney General, the conscription documents were sent to 7,000 Haredi Jews. They responded with angry protests. But Brigadier Heyman, like ousted former defense minister Yoav Galant, says they have a “moral obligation to serve”.

It requires not only personal sacrifices, but also economic ones.

The Bank of Israel said in May that the cost of the war to Israel could reach $70bn (£55bn) by the end of next year, an estimate made before the country’s ground invasion of Lebanon. Small businesses are the most affected.

Shelley Lawton’s food tech startup is one of many struggling to survive. Shelley has already had to move her business out of northern Israel to avoid Hezbollah rockets. Two of its seven employees are called up for military service.

The morning we met at her home in Tel Aviv, Shelley received even more bad news. She received a message from one of her employees whose military service was being extended.

“I just can’t express how important it is to have one more employee out for another month,” says Shelley.

“I can’t even hire someone else or close that gap.”

Shelley also had to juggle family life with three young children. Her husband, also a reservist, had to be away from home for a long time.

A ceasefire in Lebanon could ease the pressure. But there is still fighting in Gaza. Shelley Lawton fears for the future without a clear strategy from the Israeli government to end the conflict.

“I think the war should have ended,” she says.